Rent in the Force
by CrazyMich
Summary: Continuation to Pattern of the Force. Ben Skywalker, Anakin Solo, and the rest of the galaxy learn to deal with the rising of the Sith and the death of the galaxy's greatest Jedi Master
1. I Feel Cold

Chapter 1:I Feel Cold

  
  


iHe was at the highest point of Coruscant, at the Tower of Light in the newly constructed Jedi Temple. Dusk was falling and it cut through the evening mist in rays of aggravated reds and violent violets. The air was cooled causing his breath to come in white puffs of condensed air that dissipated quickly. Below, the golden leaves of Fasha trees rustled, a cool breeze flittering through them, and stinging flying insects buzzed around in ever swaying patterns. 

  
  


In the failing light the mist thickened, swirling around his compact frame and masking anything further than a few kilometers. Giving the whole atmosphere around him a surreal feel. One quick glance around him and he determined he was not alone. Another man stood on top of the Temple, the mist causing him to be cast into darkness and his gaze centered on the forest below with rapt attention. 

  
  


Ben Skywalker walked to the edge and looked down through the gathering mist and saw 

legions upon legions of Yuuzhan Vong circling the circumference of the Temple. His breath caught in his chest on a gasp and he suddenly remembered that this was a dream. No, not just a dream but a vision, a vision of his future. 

  
  


"I refute this," he suddenly yelled. "I deny this." He would not become what this future held, he would not be the man he saw, taller, slightly more built, that was staring avidly at his Vong warriors. 

  
  


Ben ran up to that man, his future self, and pointed a finger into the face that had aged by years but still held the tell-tale signs of his heritage. "I am not you," he was nearly screaming now. He threw his head upwards. "This is not my future." Ben's green-blue eyes, now shot with grey, were

avid. "I refute you." 

  
  


But there was nothing to stop the progression of the future, Ben knew that he was bound to this fate as his parents had been bound to theirs. He had not been able to stop his mother's or his father's death and was now doomed to forever know the future but helpless to change it. 

  
  


The man in his dream, himself only older, laughed maniacally and smiled wickedly at Ben. "You cannot refute me nor deny me. I am a part of you." 

  
  


No, this darkness had nothing to do with him. He was the son of Luke and Mara Skywalker, two of the greatest Jedi in the history of the Jedi Order. bDad, help me. Please./b But Luke wasn't there, he had gone to join the Force and Mara. Unreachable, and thus unable to save his son from the fate that was promised. 

  
  


"We are one," the elder version of Ben said, gripping his hand in an aggressive fist as if he controlled the very air and not just the swarming Yuuzhan Vong. 

  
  


Ben shook his head, backing up from the darker version of himself, turning around and running with everything that he had. So determined was he that Ben did not stop when he came to the edge of the Temple, but hurled himself over, falling through the mist and into the Yuuzhan Vong below. 

  
  


The ground was rushing up and he was about to join his parents..... /b

  
  


Ben sprung up from his bed in his quarters at the Jedi Temple, sweat pouring down his 

body and he trembled with the ominous taint that still clung to him from his dream/vision. His blankets had slid off from his simple bed as he had twisted in the midst of the vision. 

  
  


He and his father had worked so that he could be able to stop the visions, but when in sleep it was nearly impossible to stop them from coming. Since the death of his father these visions/dreams of his dark future had become a nightly occurrence keeping Ben from the oblivion sleep could provide him. 

  
  


Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Ben stepped out of his bed and padded through his father''s 

empty bedroom and into the small kitchenette right next to the main entry room. He swiped a container from one of the cupboards and began to prepare a kettle of water for some soothing hot tea. It was the only thing that came the closest to relaxing him enough to return to a dreamless sleep. 

  
  


The Skywalker quarters were inordinately quiet. Always before when Ben had woken 

from his visions, he had been able to hear the soft, even breathing of his father in the next room; now there was only eery silence. It was difficult to come to terms with, that no matter what his future held there would never again be the sound of his father and mother in the next room. He was alone to carry the Skywalker name, and that filled him with fear. The only people to pick

him up if he fell had been taken away from him. 

  
  


Shuddering, Ben poured him a vessel of tea and came to sit on the couch, curling his legs under him in a meditative position. Bellalt had been saved, he was grateful for the many Yuuzhan Vong and other species of this galaxy that had been spared the devastation that the Dark Lord Nefarion

had plotted. But for Ben it had cost dearly; his father's life. He knew that he should release the anger and hatred he felt towards the Sith, those feelings would surely lead him down the path he most desired to stay away from. Try as he might, however, the feelings would not leave him. His parents had been stolen from him, taken by grasping people who only sought to further their own

status. 

  
  


He wasn't alone as he might imagine. His aunt Leia and uncle Han had offered all their support and love, along with his cousins and their families, namely Anakin who himself was feeling the weight of loneliness since his rebirth from the Yuuzhan Vong ioombassl/i. Yet, Ben could not take their proffered hands. What if he did and he took them all down with him? 

  
  


He shook his head. No, he wouldn't allow himself to do that. He would leave before he 

became a danger to his family and the Order as a whole. 

  
  


Ben swallowed the last of his now cold tea and slammed the vessel in his crossed legs. 

Sleep, it beckoned to him. A chance for the release of reality and a chance to face his innermost fears. In some ways it filled him with hope, that oblivion was a possibility. Knowing he would be little good in his early morning exercises unless he caught a few hours of sleep, Ben rinsed his vessel and cleaned up the mess he had made in the small kitchenette. 

  
  


Passing his father's bedroom he felt an unaccustomed urge, a desire he had not indulged himself in since he was very little. Crawling onto his father's bunk he slinked under the covers, cuddling against the pillow that seemed to still carry that warmth of his father. The spicy smell of

chocolate and the cool ting of bantha milk tickled his nostrils, soothing him more then the herbal mixture he had just sipped at. 

  
  


When the Yuuzhan Vong war had come to its end and Ben was once again safe to be with 

his two warrior parents, being alone in his own room had frightened him. Many a night he had snuck into his parents bed and nestled between the two of them, breathing in each of their scents. Mara the bitter-sweet smell of Titania flowers and his father's sweat musk. It had always made him feel safe. 

  
  


After Mara died, Ben had asked his father for her pillow and Luke had given it to him 

freely. Ben had clung to it for months before he realized that her scent and sense had evaporated from the object. But for now, in his father's bed, he felt that sense of safety return. As his eyes drooped and his mind slipped into that semi-consciousness known as sleep, in the safety of his father's bed, the nightmare visions disappeared. 

  
  


++++++

  
  


Leia Solo had woken early, determined to clean up the rest of her brother's things. A job she knew Ben had been avoiding and one she had taken upon herself, saving her nephew from the experience he was so desperately avoiding. Her twin brother's passing had affected everyone in the Temple, but none more so then Ben. The once bright, unwavering boy had grown even more withdrawn and reclusive. Oh, he still carried on with his classes, both the ones he taught in his father's absence and the ones that would help him to advance to his knighthood. More then once one of the Jedi Masters had approached her saying that Ben was still keeping up but they worried about his attention. 

  
  


The instant urge to snap at them for the insensitivity had been repressed as quickly as it came, Leia forcing her diplomatic smile in its place. What did these people expect from her nephew? Instant acceptance of becoming an orphan right in front of his eyes? She herself still reeled every time she dwelled on the thoughts that she would never see her dear brother again. Although they had not grown up together, their connection in the Force had been strong and true; when that had suddenly been ripped away it had left Leia feeling as though she was only half of who she was. 

  
  


Han was little better. There were times she had witnessed him walking up and down the 

spot where the Council had erected a memorial for Luke, his eyes dazzled by glints of tears. For Han his friends were his life, he had proved that countless times, beginning with the time he had come back to face the Death Star because he could not leave Luke to challenge it alone. When

Chewie died it had left Han feeling like the shell of the man he once been before; Leia had been strong for him then. But now with Luke's passing, she was at a loss to help her family, because she was lost in the same swirl of emotion. 

  
  


The funeral pyre they had set for Luke had been a tremendous event, every Jedi available

swarming to the new Temple to pay homage to their Jedi Master. Since there had been no body to release to the Force, Ben had selected one of his father's Jedi robes and had placed it across the pyre before bringing the flaming torch to spark the timbers. Ben had performed the ritual Jedi

ceremony with a stone face, never cracking the deadpan facade he had built around him. For the rest of the memorial, Ben had stood with his hands clasped in front of him next to Anakin. Both boys had suffered so much and they seemed to take solace in one another's company, but Leia wondered how long that would last before Ben pushed even Anakin out. 

  
  


It hit Leia how much Luke had been the glue for their family, keeping them together 

through the worst of times and guiding them through the best. 

  
  


Coming to her brother's memorial, Leia was struck by how well the Jedi carvers had been 

able to capture Luke's likeness in the same stone the Temple had been constructed out of. Luke would have laughed at the thought, but Leia knew that the memorial helped a lot of people cope with the death of the Jedi Master. Behind the statue flashing in subdued colors were the many exploits that Luke had been a part of as well as the medal Leia herself had placed over his head. It seemed forever ago and yet just yesterday that it had happened. 

  
  


From down the hall Leia was distracted from her scrutiny by the most beautiful girl she 

had ever seen. Never to be called tall, as Leia was herself, the girl held herself in such a manner that it appeared as though she were. Her hair was the dark chestnut of Noral wood and her eyes even darker. She had skin the color of ivory and it went even paler as she spotted Leia. 

  
  


"Padami?" the girl asked, staring at Leia as if she were a ghost. 

  
  


"I'm sorry," Leia said gently, seeing that the girl was obviously distraught. 

  
  


The words, however, snapped the girl out of her reverie and she shook her head. "Forgive me, I thought you were someone else."

  
  


Leia blinked. She couldn't remember the last time she had been taken for someone else. She

would have thought that she and her family had been photographed enough times that everyone knew the Skywalker/Solos as well as their own family members. A thought struck her as Leia studied the girl. 

  
  


"You're Anakin's student, Analsa, aren't you?" she asked. Confused by the girl's quick reversals. 

  
  


The dark haired beauty nodded. "Sort of, I suppose. I haven't actually been apprenticed 

yet."

  
  


"Anakin speaks highly of your skills," Leia offered. 

  
  


The girl cocked a sculpted eyebrow. "Does he?"

  
  


Why did Leia get the feeling she was exchanging a conversation with one of the skilled diplomats and not a budding student at the Temple? Perhaps it was the evasive way the girl answered every question as if she were afraid to reveal too much of herself. The way Anakin spoke of her she was an incredibly talented young woman in the Force and Leia had suspected that Anakin's feelings had begun to switch from Tahiri to the younger woman. Of course that could be Leia's wishful thinking for her youngest son. She knew that Jacen and Tahiri's relationship bothered Anakin no end and that the two brothers had not spoken much in the time since Anakin's return. She just wished for everything to work out for itself in a very unrealistic way. 

  
  


"I am sorry about your brother's passing," Analsa said in a fluid sympathy that lacked the awkwardness that all the other beings who had come to offer Leia their condolences had possessed. "He was an incredible man."

  
  


Leia felt the shadow fall over her heart once again. "Yes, he was. The best I have ever known." 

  
  


Memories had been flooding over her lately. The first time she had met her brother 

aboard the Death Star. How bravely he had come to her rescue, not really knowing what he was doing but going on his instincts in the Force and his desire to do good. Those awful times when they had hopped from system to system barely ahead of the Empire and the times they were not. Bespin, when he had left his Jedi training to come to her and Han's rescue, and in turn she had heard him call to her. The moment he had made the confession of their heritage. She had always 

loved him, even as that wet behind the ears farm boy who had so many high ideals that her often jaded grasp on the universe had reeled at the thoughts he had produced. His quiet strength and sorrow when he had returned from facing their father and all the many trials he had been called to endure. 

  
  


Leia felt the press of tears sting her eyes and she turned briefly from the dark haired 

beauty. "Sometimes it is still too hard to believe."

  
  


Analsa nodded with her practiced sympathy. "I understand, Jedi Organa Solo."

  
  


"You lost family in the Yuuzhan Vong war didn't you?" Leia asked. 

  
  


"Yes, my parents were killed when I was very young when the Yuuzhan Vong occupied

Bimmissari," the girl answered evenly. 

  
  


Leia thought that the girl sounded far too like her own nephew, who had lost so much so 

quickly. "I'm sorry to hear that." 

  
  


"I don't even remember them," Analsa offered offhandedly, now showing the pain inside her

without actually knowing it. 

  
  


Leia just agreed, knowing how the younger woman felt. She had only faint memories of 

her mother, and of her father... well, they were the experiences nightmares were made of. Her brother had been her one link to what her father might have been had he not let the Dark Side take him over. 

  
  


After an awkward moment of silence, Analsa cleared her throat. "If you will excuse me 

Jedi Organa Solo, I have an instructional in a few moments." 

  
  


"Of course, Analsa. It was nice to meet you," Leia said, nodding in agreement. 

  
  


"As it was you," Analsa said, bowing as was customary of the students now when addressing a Master. Leia was hardly a Master but everyone treated her as such, now more so than before. The girl trotted off passing Luke's memorial solemnly before quickening her pace. 

  
  


Leia watched after her, wondering who this young woman was that had Anakin in wonder 

of her abilities and perhaps even slightly smitten with. Leia was sure that Anakin would

vehemently deny it if she mentioned it, but Leia could not help but want to keep a closer eye on Analsa Vinn. 

  
  


Walking up to the memorial she kissed her fingers and brought them to Luke's stone 

sculpted cheek. "I miss you Luke," she whispered. 

  
  


There was no response, as she had expected but not as she had hoped. She and Luke had 

always been able to reach each other no matter the distance but now the length was too all-encompassing. 

  
  


Once again donning her resolve to finish packing Luke's things, she hurried to the 

Skywalker quarters. She knocked softly, with no response. Ben must already have gone to his classes. Pressing her hand to the reader plate the door slid open and she entered the small quarters that had been just like all the others in the Jedi Order. Many had thought that Luke should have had a better set of rooms, but Luke had strongly disagreed and had finally compromised by adding an office to his small rooms. Luke had never wanted to be more than the Jedi farm boy he was. 

  
  


Pushing the wooden door open to Luke's bedroom she found that it was occupied by a sleeping Ben Skywalker. Her young nephew's longish hair was disheveled and damp from sleeping, in his compact form he clutched his father's pillow close to him, bringing to mind the young boy who not so long ago had also lost his mother. So often, the youngest Skywalker held himself with such dignity and self-confidence for a sixteen year old that many neglected to notice the soft boyish features that were telling of his youth. 

  
  


Reposed in sleep he looked more the boy than the near man he was. In a few days he would be seventeen, a few years younger then she and Luke when they had been thrown into the 

whirlwind of the Rebellion against the Empire. She wanted so much to let him sleep knowing full well how difficult any sort of rest had been for him, but he would be upset if he missed the three-year-old's class that he taught while they were searching for a replacement for Luke. 

  
  


Sitting softly onto the bed, she reached out and nudged her sleeping nephew both physically and with the Force. Instantly, Ben's eyes shot open, the blue-green irises roving over the room to finally set on Leia. He groaned. "What time is it?"

  
  


"Oh seven hundred, Skywalker," she said in a tone she had once heard in the voice of General Madine. 

  
  


He rubbed at his eyes in the most endearing fashion but Leia kept in her fond smile, not 

wanting to embarrass her nephew in such a vulnerable time as the first moments of

consciousness. Ben did not like to be fondled over. 

  
  


"Good, I'm not late," he looked around as if confused as to how he had gotten in his father's room. "Thanks for coming to wake me, Aunt Leia, but what brings you here?"

  
  


"I thought I'd finish packing your father's things," she answered brushing at a stray lock of ruddy hair that was dangling between his eyebrows. 

  
  


To her surprise Ben actually leaned into the touch as if needing the close physical contact. But the pressure left so quickly that she began to think she had imagined it. "I see," he whispered. 

  
  


"Ben, it has to be done," she said sternly but gently. 

  
  


"I know. I just... miss him. Both of them," the youngest Skywalker said. 

  
  


Leia smiled at him. "We both do." She gave her brother's room a once-over. "Is there 

anything you want me to keep for you?" 

  
  


Ben shook his head. "I've already taken everything I want and this," he said bunching the pillow he was still clutching into his arms. 

  
  


"Have you decided whether you're going to stay here or move to a new set of quarters?" Leia asked carefully, knowing that Ben had never had a permanent home and that this small room had been the closest thing to it in a long time. 

  
  


He shrugged, doing his best nonchalant impression. "I'm not sure. I was hoping to talk Anakin into coming to live here."

  
  


This was a surprise to Leia. Anakin hadn't mentioned anything about Ben wanting him to 

stay at the Skywalker residence. "Have you discussed this with Anakin?"

  
  


"Not yet," Ben admitted. 

  
  


"Ben give it time, you don't have to decide everything all in one week. Take the time you need to mourn then move on," Leia instructed. 

  
  


"Time, the ever elusive quality," Ben retorted snidely. "If only I didn't know what time would bring," he said wistful. 

  
  


Leia shivered at the desolation in Ben. He was too young to sound so jaded and lost. "Get ready for your class," she said, shoving him slightly off the bed. 

  
  


He smiled at her attempt. Although not nearly as tall as Anakin, Ben was compact and strong, making it incredibly difficult for her to 'push' her nephew around. "Such violence, Aunt Leia," he teased. "Whatever happened to your diplomatic flair?"

  
  


She was glad that her little attack had done its job, lightening Ben's mood. The boy would be alright if he gave himself what he needed, but so often the Skywalker men let themselves go beyond their abilities. 

  
  


Ben danced away from her with the grace of his training and exited into his room to 

change and freshen up. Almost immediately she felt his mood return back to its proverbial rain cloud that had followed him since the attack on Bellalt. iOh, Luke, why you? We need you so desperately./i 

  
  


+++++++++

  
  


Ben hurried to his class, munching on the nutrient bar he had grabbed before dashing out of his quarters. He had not wanted to be there when Aunt Leia cleared out the rest of his father's things, it was too much of a finality that Ben could not take. Before, he could almost hope that it had all been a terrible dream and he would wake up one morning and his father would be there with a

hot cup of chocolate in one hand and studying a datapad in the other. Once his father's things were gone then the illusion would be disrupted. 

  
  


It was one of the reasons he wanted to stay in the assigned Skywalker quarters and ask 

Anakin to come live with him. The slight stability his own room afforded him would be 

wonderful next to starting again in a new area of the Temple. Still he doubted that anyone would try to push him out and for the first time he was grateful for the respect he was paid due to his lineage. 

  
  


Reaching his class, he found twelve three-year-olds of varying species waiting patiently, or as patiently as three-year-olds could, in meditative positions. He spotted the dark haired, green eyed, Tadeo, Jaina's son, who not surprisingly was having the most difficult time in displaying his

patience. The little boy bounced and waved when he saw Ben walk in and Ben had to repress his delighted smile at seeing the little boy. He couldn't show favoritism in a teaching situation and he had to let Tad know that. It was one of the lessons he had learned early on in his parents' classes. 

  
  


Besides, Tad would need his full concentration if he was going to learn the exercise Ben had planned for them today. He had gone before the Council petitioning for allowance to teach the younger students to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force. If the newest students were apt to learn, then it would go to show that the younger ones would be even more open to the new ability. Anakin, who had also taken Luke's nine-year-old class, was doing the same this morning. 

  
  


"Good morning," he said. 

  
  


"Good morning, Apprentice Skywalker," the three-year-olds cheered in unison. 

  
  


Ben had done his best to pour out all of his negative feelings before he came into each 

and every one of his classes. He did not want the children affected by him, when they had all felt the disturbance of his father's death. Just because he kept reliving it didn't mean that they had to as well. 

  
  


Coming to the floor in a crossed-legged position he motioned for them to do the same as well; a twi'lek girl came to one side of him while on the other side was a domed head Bith boy who Ben had heard played as well as Firgin Dan. Tadeo was next to the twi'lek girl and he was doing his best not to chatter to the other kids. Ben sent a burst of reassurance in the Force. He may not be

able to give Tadeo an outward show of favoritism but the little boy was still a part of his family. 

  
  


Tad shot him a wide grin and then settled down next to the twi'lek girl. 

  
  


Ben turned to his class. "Today I'm going to teach you how to sense the Yuuzhan Vong 

through the Force," he announced, knowing that their attentiveness was only a sometime thing. 

  
  


Instantly a little girl with tight ringlets and a pixie like face raised her hand. "Yes, Gillie," Ben said, expecting what was to come and not needing his ability as a seer. 

  
  


"Moma says that you can't feel the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force," the little girl informed 

her instructor. 

  
  


Up until a little while ago, Gillie's mother would have been right. But Anakin's return 

had not only brought joy and happiness to his family but the ability to sense the previously vacuumed Yuuzhan Vong in the Force. Anakin had gained the skill while on Myrkr when his body had been shutting down and his essence returning to the Force. However, the part that made up Anakin Solo had returned to his body shortly after and had been sustained inside the living tissues of an ioombassl/i, literally a rebirth for the Jedi Knight. Ben had gained the skill in a less trumped-up way, instead he had gained it after being poisoned by an Yuuzhan Vong amphistaff. To draw out the poison with the Force he had linked with Anakin, in the process gaining his cousin's ability to sense the Yuuzhan Vong with the Force. 

  
  


It had been proven teachable to those who need not have a life threatening experience to learn the technique, with the first student, besides Anakin and Ben, being Analsa Vinn. Ben had explained to the Council that if he started with the younger students, and Anakin the older, in no time they could have the whole Temple trained. Ben had yet to see anything immediate in the Force that would require such a technique, considering the Yuuzhan Vong had lived amongst the natives of this galaxy for more than fifteen years, save for his dark vision of himself. In a way he was hoping to head off himself if he did become what he feared. A countermeasure to his own approaching evil. 

  
  


Sighing, he turned to the young girl. "Gillie, your mother was right. For a long while we could not sense the Yuuzhan Vong but now me and Jedi Anakin Solo can." The girl's already round eyes turned into credit chits. "And I hope to be able to teach you and the rest of the class to do so

as well." 

  
  


Murmurs began to break out amongst the young ones and Ben fervently wished once again for

his father to return. Surely, Luke could have handled all this much better than Ben, Luke's kind patience could soothe the babble of twelve three-year-olds. But Luke wasn't here, and Ben would have to get used to that. 

  
  


He motioned at the door, where he had met Dorsca Cherrz before coming in. The Force- 

sensitive Yuuzhan Vong walked in, the claws of his unbooted feet clicking softly on the tile. While most of the children looked scandalized, Tad was totally captivated. Once the boy had his attention on something it was difficult to divert it. 

  
  


Ben stood up and smiled at Cherrz, one of the few Yuuzhan Vong warriors who had seemed 

like a Jedi to Ben as soon as the two of them had met. Cherrz held himself with a calm

confidence, his demeanor and outlook so much already like a Jedi's that Ben was amazed that no one had noticed it before. He had instantly felt a bond to the older Yuuzhan Vong and Ben had been grateful that he had agreed to come to Ben's class considering, what he was planning on doing to the being. 

  
  


"This is my friend, Dorsca Cherrz," he introduced his young students to the Vong Jedi. 

  
  


"Hello Dorsca Cherrz," the three-year-olds crowed. 

  
  


Cherrz looked to Ben in surprise. "They have grown used to Yuuzhan Vong being in their midst, domain Cherrz," Ben assured him, still using the proper name of his friend, knowing that it was preferred among the Vong species. 

  
  


"Oh," Cherrz said, nodding his head thoughtfully. 

  
  


"I thank you again domain Cherrz for your help with this demonstration," Ben said. 

  
  


Cherrz turned to him. "You said it would be necessary to show the children, I am willing 

to assist." 

  
  


Cherrz had been the only person not to change his demeanor towards Ben since Luke's death, and although Ben did not know if it were purposeful or not, he enjoyed the respite from the sympathetic looks he got from all. "Still, I appreciate it. I suspect you're not quite sure what you got yourself into." 

  
  


"I trust you Ben Skywalker," Cherrz assured him. 

  
  


"Good," Ben said, and abruptly lifted his hand, calling on the Force to raise the Yuuzhan Vong from the ground a few centimeters. 

  
  


To Ben's immense pleasure, Cherrz did not react to Ben's Force manipulations, but looked calmly down at his levitating feet. Ben repressed a grin as he sent the Yuuzhan Vong several centimeters higher into the air and froze him there. "Now I know a lot of you can't lift objects yet, but I need you to concentrate along my path, trace the waves of the Force through me," Ben instructed. "Gillie you first."

  
  



	2. Shroud of the Darkside

Chapter 2: Shroud of the Dark Side  
  
Sarlana was shaken, her mind spinning like a children's toy, as she hurried away from Anakin's mother, Princess Leia Organa Solo. Of course, she had seen pictures of the woman before, but they had all been from when she had played an active role in the New Republic's hierarchy or real-time footage taken during the Yuuzhan Vong war. Never before had she seen the likeness between Solo and Padami, but now there was no doubting that they must have been related.  
  
Padami had been nearing the end of her life, her sad eyes lined with the age of time, and something more that the young Sarlana had never been able to identify. Those eyes had now been duplicated in the form of Leia Solo. Each had held their quiet grief, Solo's for her brother and Padami's for her two lost children.  
  
iOh, how could I have been so blind?/i she cursed herself.  
  
The truth was it hurt to know that Padami did not belong just to her, that the memory of the woman who was the closest thing to a mother she had ever known was now shattered by the Skywalkers, causing her hatred towards them to grow by several degrees. Padami was her memory, not some weak-minded Jedi's, who could not embrace the full potential of the Force.  
  
Sarlana briefly wondered if her Master, Lord Nefarion, was aware that the mother of Leia and Luke Skywalker had raised his Sith Apprentice. She had always suspected that her Master had been the one to bring an end to the elderly woman's life; whether by his own hand or a hired assassin's, Sarlana had never learned. Anger filled her, fueling the banked flames of the Dark inside of her. She had kept them closely attuned, not wanting to tip off the Jedi around her, until the time came for the third part of Lord Nefarion's plan to come into action.  
  
She yearned for that time to come sooner than her Sith Master had prescribed. She had grown weary of being around all the Jedi and wished to drop the facade that she had placed around herself. The events on Bellalt had made her weak, seeing the Jedi in action and the sacrifice that Master Skywalker had made for his son. Never before had she witnessed or known the beliefs of the Jedi, and she felt ill-prepared to deflect the atmosphere.  
  
Then there was Anakin Solo, he was proving to be more a complication then either she or her Master had counted on. Nefarion had been forced to leave Ben Skywalker behind because he had not wished for an encounter with both Anakin and Ben. One he could handle without any qualms, but two, he would rather wait to have them separated. A lesson from Lord Sidious that neither Sith Master nor Apprentice had forgotten. "Divide your enemy and they become weaker, the Jedi lean too heavily upon one another."  
  
Sarlana fought for the control and patience of her ability in the Dark Side. To get caught now, on the cusp of the next phase towards her Master's domination, would only end her life much sooner then Padami's. With an effort she squashed down her anger and hatred for the Skywalkers, and let it reside in a place unreachable to other Force-sensitives yet accessible to her.  
  
The Sith apprentice had lied to Organa Solo when she had said that she had a tutorial, in fact she was on her way to make contact with her Master. Nefarion had been upset about the escape of Ben Skywalker, so close in reach and yet unattainable, consoling Sarlana that at least she was outside of her Master's fury inside of the Temple, which was not the case for Tranx, the strategist who had botched the Bellalt attack. Her Master had already reported twice that the aging man had been sent for mineral deficiency in his musculature, a tell-tale sign of Force-lightning.  
  
Sarlana felt nothing for the man, although she had suffered her Master's punishment before and would again. Tranx should have continued the onslaught on the Jedi forces, even with the new arrival of the Chiss clawfighters, until Nefarion had given the signal for retreat. Instead, her Master had been forced to catch up with his own fleet after his failed attempt at taking Ben Skywalker on Bellalt. The Bellalt strike was supposed to incite the separatist Yuuzhan Vong to once again ally themselves with the devotees against the New Republic, once again bringing war to the settled galaxy. Sarlana did not know why her Master had left the elderly man alive, but she guessed it had to do with the fact that the Jedi had gotten lucky with the arrival of the Chiss fleet.  
  
When Sarlana had mentioned her trepidation with continuing with their timetable, Lord Nefarion had assured her that everything would go as planned, that he had a contingency plot to thwart the Separatists and bring them under their power.  
  
Coming outside of the Temple proper, Sarlana was once again struck by the changes in Coruscant. She had just been a child when the Yuuzhan Vong had invaded the galaxy in full force, but she remembered the patterned chaos that had once inhabited Coruscant so long ago. Nefarion had stowed them aboard a refugee cruiser right before the Yuuzhan Vong had terraformed the planet and had crushed the government seat of the republic. She had not returned until now.  
  
Her ship was buried deep within a nearby forest of Fasha trees, their bioluminescent trunks veined in violet hues and leaves that were now turning the golden color of Coruscant's vernal equinox. The air outside was crisp and frigid in the early morning before Coruscant's primary came to its apex, and Sarlana's breath shimmered as she continued her purposeful stride.  
  
It was about a standard hour before Sarlana reached her ship. Sith Eternal had been an upgrade from the infiltrator that Darth Sidious' first apprentice, Maul, had been fond of using, and Sarlana had just given it even more kick. Not only did it hold a hyperdrive fast enough to rival the famed Millennium Falcon, the weapon systems were top of the line with ion and laser canyons mounted inconspicuously. The body was an elongated cone with two TIE fighter type fins attached to its starboard and port sides. Thanks to the cloaking device that she herself had installed, it had been little trouble getting past Corsucant's Air-Space Security. Once she had arrived, her spy inside the Temple had lead her to the Council with the premise that he had discovered Analsa Vinn on a recent mission. It had all worked so perfectly; so why did she have a feeling that it had been a little too perfect and that at any moment it may come crashing down on her?  
  
Entering the ramp code, she bounded up into the belly of her ship and headed for the cockpit. Sarlana melted into the pilot's chair and keyed her console communications system to Nefarion's frequency. There was hardly any wait before the shrouded being came into existence, tall and formidable, his features obscured by shadow created by the ever present cowl. Of course, Sarlana had seen behind the cowl before, had witnessed the face behind the shadow, but it did not happen often. Lord Nefarion did not like to be seen.  
  
"Lady Sarlana," Nefarion greeted, his usually cool and even voice as icy as the rapid winds that were buffeting the Sith Eternal. "What of young Skywalker?"  
  
"He is well, my Master, although distracted and distraught. I have learned much concerning the power the boy holds," Sarlana tantalized with this surprising tidbit.  
  
Nefarion's voice did not change nor did a shadow flicker under the cowl. "And what have you learned, my apprentice?"  
  
"The reason Master Skywalker gave his life on Bellalt," Sarlana answered quickly. Her Master had been curious by his victory over the Jedi Master, seeing how the older Force-user had been keeping up a good defense before he had thrown his saber needlessly at the warriors surrounding his son.  
  
Still there was no change in Nefarion's demeanor, the shadow that represented his face staring at her in dark patience. Sarlana's pitiful attempt at baiting him would not even receive a response. She didn't know why she thought it would, the man was as cold and calculated as his voice, she would not break his frigid skin.  
  
"If Ben Skywalker allows himself too deeply into the Force, he becomes almost entranced by it, giving himself to the energy so acutely that he can possibly join with it fully and irreversibly," Sarlana answered.  
  
This did cause Nefarion to lean more fully towards the viewscreen. Any measure of power intrigued Nefarion to immense proportions, affording the user of that power a certain respect that the Sith Master defined only, and a careful eye. Nefarion had a brilliant mind, one that still astounded Sarlana; he was the first to see the detriments and benefits to any action they took and planned for every contingency. Which was one of the reasons it bothered her that he had not prepared her to join the Jedi better; it didn't surprise her that he would test her so ruthlessly.  
  
"He is more powerful then I thought," Nefarion muttered, now totally ignoring his apprentice.  
  
"But Master he cannot control it," Sarlana reminded him, insecurity rising from her unbidden. She had been with the Sith Lord for nearly twenty years, she deserved to be noticed.  
  
Did Nefarion plan to kill her once he had Skywalker? Her presence would become more of a liability once his new apprentice had arrived.  
  
"Be mindful of your thoughts, Sarlana, they betray you," Nefarion threatened. "Ben Skywalker will learn to control his power, I will see to that."  
  
"Yes, my Master," Sarlana said, chastened by the Sith Lord's hurried reply. She should have already known that when it came to Skywalker Nefarion was resolute. Ben would join them, he would control his power, and Nefarion would rule the galaxy through him. "When will we put phase three into motion?"  
  
"Soon," the Dark Lord answered, as he had every other time in the past few days when Sarlana had asked the question. She wondered if this was part of her test. "I will be traveling to Linnal today, so I may be more difficult to contact."  
  
Sarlana nodded. No doubt the topic of conversation would be the failed attempt to bring the Separatists back to the idealism of the devotee Yuuzhan Vong. "And if I can't contact you, Master?" Sarlana asked, finding the notion strangely relieving and weighing at the same time.  
  
Nefarion sneered. "Tranx will be available."  
  
"You let him live, Master?"Sarlana said surprised.  
  
"He has his uses, but don't worry, Sarlana, he paid. I'm sure you would have liked to have dealt the punishment yourself, seeing as you were never fond of his teaching techniques," Nefarion implied. "But it could not wait."  
  
Sarlana gritted her teeth. No, Tranx had not been the best of teachers, in some ways he could rival Nefarion in his approach. There had been the time he had placed her at twelve years old inside a tank of Krakana where her only way out was to find the strategy in which the razor-sharp-toothed fish coordinated their attack. She had nearly lost her leg in the first attempt when one of the krakana had sunk its teeth into her flesh.  
  
"At your discretion, Master," Sarlana answered evenly. She would not let him bait her just as he would not rise to hers. She was a Lady of the Sith, the natural enemy to the Jedi, and a director of the Dark Side. Her loyalty to Nefarion was finding new restraints all the time with the separation between them, and she was finding the new freedom incredible.  
  
"Keep an eye on Skywalker," Nefarion interrupted her reverie. "I feel something shifting in the Force."  
  
"As always, Master, I obey," Sarlana intoned by rote. She had been reciting those words from the moment she had been able to speak.  
  
The shadowed face of Nefarion did not change, but Sarlana felt a chill as though his gaze was settled on her. "Make sure you do, iApprentice/i Sarlana." The Sith Lord made an arbitrary gesture with his gloved hand and the holographic projected image of him evaporated.  
  
Sarlana sat inside her cockpit for a long moment. She knew she had better get back to the Temple before someone missed her and came searching in the right place at the wrong time, but she remained. Despite her new found freedom from her Lord and Master Nefarion, she still felt a twinge inside of her to please the Sith Lord, and it aggravated her that he was so bent on obtaining Ben Skywalker to their side. Hadn't she proved herself a worthy apprentice time and time again? Wasn't her power combined with her Master's enough to bring the Jedi under their control? Nefarion had thought so until Skywalker's birth nearly seventeen years ago; ever since, the Sith Lord had been obsessed with the youngest Skywalker.  
  
Shaking her head at her own foolish thoughts, she fed the anger she felt towards her Master into the Dark Side before bringing it to the place inside of her where it could remain hidden. A tactic Lord Nefarion and Lady Sarlana had learned from the holocron of their mentor, Darth Sidious. The man had stood amidst the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy and had cloaked his presence without a suspicion raising a furrow on any of the Council members' foreheads.  
  
Exiting her ship, she locked down the Sith Eternal and set her wrist band to alarm her if any sentient beings came near it. She was grateful for the Incom sensory device she had installed before coming to infiltrate the Temple. She felt the almost instant connection to the Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology, a skill she had obtained on Bellalt when they had set up Solo to chase after a group of Devotee Yuuzhan Vong.  
  
Walking through the merged life forms of Vong and the indigenous life that encompassed every square meter of Coruscant, Sarlana tested her ability. She had yet to inform her Master about her newfound skill, and enjoyed the feeling of power it gave her. Secrets are power, my apprentice, Nefarion had told her long ago. What another doesn't know makes them weak. Now she was using his own teachings against him.  
  
Coruscant's primary was beginning to crest over the stories-high Temple spire, and its rise sent warmth through the misty air. The Temple had been constructed on the premise of both the Massassi Temple on Yavin 4 and over the ruins of the Old Order on Coruscant. Sarlana could understand why her Master wanted to capture the area so badly, there was an annex of concentrated Force energy where the Temple now stood, as if residue from the beginning of all life. This incredible thought never entered the ghostly corners of the Sith Apprentice's mind; like her Master, she saw only the power it could give her and what she could do with that power. It wouldn't be long before Nefarion and she ruled the Temple, not in disguise but openly, with the Jedi trampled below their feet.  
  
Sarlana felt a wicked smile spread across her beautiful features.  
  
She was halfway to the Temple when she ran into Ben Skywalker with a procession of tiny children following behind him. She had heard that he had taken the bulk of his father's classes, having attended and taught most of them on the odd occasion, still she did not like the fact that he would be traipsing around the Fasha tree forest and could so easily stumble upon her ship.  
  
He brought the clutch of children to a halt a few paces in front of her and nodded in greeting. It was done in the most polite and honest of ways, and yet Sarlana found she never trusted the son of Skywalker, he seemed to be watching her at all times waiting for her to slip up and reveal herself. She was pretty sure this was all in her mind, a slight paranoia being amongst the enemy.  
  
"Nice morning, Analsa?" he asked, now offering her a welcoming smile.  
  
It was only when he smiled that she noticed it hadn't been the full blown one she had been accustomed to before his father's death, this one paled like the moon next to the sun compared to that previous beaming. She couldn't help but feel a grudging respect for the boy, both of his parents were now gone to the Force and yet he still trudged along working for the goals his father had given his life for. The part of Sarlana's mind that was fully Sith found it incredibly stupid working for another person's pleasure, but there was a tiny voice, a voice not unlike that of Padami's, that honored him for his diligence.  
  
"Nice, but chilly," Sarlana answered.  
  
Ben nodded, raking his eyes over her thin jumpsuit that she had thrown on in her rush to meet her Master. She could tell what he was thinking; that the jumpsuit was hardly appropriate for the temperature and yet she did not shiver. However, he did not voice what was obviously lurking in his mind.  
  
Instead, he turned to the children and cocked his cleft chin in their direction. "I'm taking my class to try and expand their ability to sense Yuuzhan Vong and their biotechnology." A ruddy brown eyebrow arched over his blue-green eyes. "Would you like to come along? Anakin told me that you have grasped the ability."  
  
She was halfway tempted to accept, that way she could steer Ben away if he came to close to her ship, but another danger lurked if she did not attend her class that Anakin Solo was directing.  
  
"I've got to head back, just needed a brisk jog through the forest," she turned him down.  
  
"Perhaps some other time," he answered, his eyes never leaving her, searching her.  
  
"Another time," she said, before jogging the final kilometers to the Temple. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea that her Master take Ben Skywalker, he could easily prove to be trouble if they were on opposing sides.  
  
hr/hr  
  
Nefarion's flagship had been looping around the gravity well of Linnal for the better part of four hours before he got the report from his apprentice. Sarlana seemed to be growing a mind of her own, something Nefarion had waited for and knew to watch. This was her greatest test of loyalty to him, to live amongst the Jedi and not be poisoned by their weakened ways but maintain her vigilance as his second.  
  
Well second for not much longer, not when he would have Ben Skywalker in his hands. That day was approaching quickly. Nefarion had been enraged when he had boarded his flagship, so much so that Tranx, the Sith's strategist in this ploy, had instantly lost his left arm and was lucky that it had halted at that. Bellalt hadn't been leveled as Nefarion had ordered but at least the Separatist tower had crumbled under the battle damage from both the Jedi and Nefarion's warriors.  
  
The one bright spot in the attack had been Skywalker's death, the whole botched attempt was vindicated by that one small act. Ben would fall easier if he did not have his shining white father standing by his side, and the son of Jade would come to his true potential. Sarlana had doubts; that Nefarion could have discerned even without her making it blindingly obvious, she doubted that Ben could ever come to his full potential, to control the raging torrent of his power.  
  
Nefarion would insure that he did. There was no room for doubt in this coup to power; caution - yes. Before he began to train Ben Skywalker, he would first turn the boy to his side. Nefarion was no fool, he knew that turning the son of Skywalker would be difficult, nearly impossible, but he had no reservations in doing so. If the boy refused to turn, then he would be killed, as would all the other Jedi who would come to challenge Nefarion once he had moved forward with phase three.  
  
Inside the belly of a coralcruiser, Nefarion attempted to raise Warmaster Shraq on his villip, manipulating the jelly-like substance with a black gloved hand. Unlike his mentor, Nefarion choose to hide himself in shadows, rarely letting any see behind the phantom he imagined himself to be. Even a swath of skin or a breakage of hair could reveal to the enemy more then Nefarion would care for them to know. Anonymity was the ultimate power, for you held all the knowledge.  
  
Giving up on the villip after several attempts, the gelatinous blob snapping once again to the round curve, Nefarion suspected that Shraq was not pleased with the events on Bellalt. The Separatist tower was supposed to remain intact and not even attacked but Nefarion had changed the plans. He needed the Separatists upset, willing to throw away their treaty with the New Republic and once again take up war against the indigenous beings of the galaxy.  
  
Nefarion would not hope that Bellalt would be enough. Already he had strike teams out to all Separatist-held worlds, ready to act whenever Nefarion gave the word. In the meantime, he had some alliances to mend. Warmaster Shraq had proven to be temperamental from the moment of their first meeting, threatening to back out with the most minor of setbacks. It was time for Nefarion to take the Devotees into his hands, leave them with no choice but to follow him. They already believed that he had the favor of their gods and that he could lead them to the victory over this galaxy that they still believed was theirs by endowment of their gods. The Sith Master sought to enlighten them further, to convince them that he was Yun Yuuzhan in the flesh, and that it was him that deserved to rule the galaxy. He had heard of a similar tactic used during the first Yuuzhan Vong war, with Jaina Solo pretending to be the Vong's trickster goddess. Nefarion was not about to convince them with clever manipulation, but with the power of the Dark Side.  
  
His coralcruiser touched down into the nutrient cradle that Sarlana had linked it to in the first visit to the planet. Piloting the coralcruiser had actually made Nefarion wish that he hadn't been forced to send Sarlana to the Temple. He hated being so closely linked to the extragalactic biotechnology. He would endure it, however, to see his plan come to fruition, and there were the sensitivities of the devotee Yuuzhan Vong to think of.  
  
Peeling the cognition hood back from his face and hair, he quickly placed the cowl over his slightly dampened hair. It was little trouble to tickle the entrance knob to pull the mouth of the coral-like ship into a large gaping yawn. Nefarion stepped through it, the strained mouth coming to a close almost immediately after. There were certain advantages to having a living ship, thought patterns were similar, a communication that was based on more feeling and image rather than a data exchange, as it were, with computers and droids.  
  
Just outside of the nutrient cradle, two tatooed Yuuzhan Vong with scars, implants, and the customary broken nose marring already grotesque features waited for him. Their sloped foreheads remained even and unfurrowed but there was murder behind their eyes. They flanked him on either side, wiry muscles rippling.  
  
It was a miniscule differential in those tight muscles that gave all the clues to Nefarion that he needed. Before they were even moving his lightsaber was out, the deep blood red hue of his lightsaber telling of the modifications he had made for it to go through any Yuuzhan Vong bioarmor that the extragalactic travelers may utilize. He flipped it in his hands with precision, gutting one Yuuzhan Vong before reversing the stroke and creating a burning hole in the chest of the other. They fell away from him together, the time between the individual fatal wounds so close that there hardly seemed any difference at all.  
  
"No need to escort me, I know the way," he said passing the now lifeless Yuuzhan Vong.  
  
The biodome thrummed with the pumping of its life source, just visible through the opaque skin of the living walls, a viscous glowing fluid that beat like the pounding of a heart. Soon all this would be his, very soon.  
  
He walked down the sponge-like corridors, his boots sinking into the springy path as he went. More warriors funneled into the hallway, Nefarion did not change his determined gait, instead he enforced it. He did not have the ability to sense the Yuuzhan Vong as did Ben Skywalker and Anakin Solo, but he went on without fear - he was the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Nefarion, he would not shudder under the onslaught of any adversary.  
  
With his gloved hands he spread his cloak from his hips, exposing the tiny thorn daggers he had stashed inside his utility belt. Grasping them with the Force, he sent them shooting out, each one thunking satisfyingly into the neck chinks of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Laced on each of the thorns was a poison specifically crafted to drop a Vong in a matter of seconds. It had taken Nefarion a long while to concoct the clear liquid, but it was all worth it when he saw the warriors topple over.  
  
Stepping over the moaning Vong whose nerve endings were firing off electric flames, rendering them paralyzed for the time, Nefarion entered the Warmaster's chamber. The Yuuzhan Vong sat on the wavering mass that stood for a throne in the species' technology.  
  
"Lord Nefarion, I'm surprised to see you," the Warmaster greeted, sounding as if he wanted to add the word 'breathing.'  
  
Nefarion smirked behind his cowl. "I'm afraid that your warriors are incapacitated. There seemed to be some argument as to my visit to you, Warmaster Shraq."  
  
"No mistake Lord Nefarion, I ordered my warriors to kill you. The attack on Bellalt was not only a failure but the team you borrowed to lead Solo away said that your warriors attacked the Separatist Tower. You swore that you would leave the Tower standing but it was the only thing that crumbled in the attack," Shraq fumed, all images of the wavering leader gone in the face of a very angry Yuuzhan Vong. "Can your bag of Jedi tricks explain that?"  
  
Raising his arm, blue bolts of electric light stuttered out from the tips of his fingers, crackling in the air towards the perched Warmaster, stopping just short of the Vong warrior. "I would not underestimate the powers of the Jedi, and to underestimate me and the Sith is death, Warmaster."  
  
Shraq lifted a clawed hand, and pushed at the thrumming but frozen Force- induced energy. As he neared, the energy seemed to wrap around him, pull back but not injure the Warmaster in any way. "You see, Lord Nefarion, your Force does not affect us. Your parlor tricks are pitiful."  
  
Nefarion's features hardened under the facade of darkness. "The Force is all-powerful, Warmaster." He built and whirled the air around him, rubbing molecules together in a superheated way so that the surroundings became blistering, the living walls that drew in and out ever so slightly in the rhythm of breathing, were now dotted with beads of what Nefarion could only define as perspiration.  
  
Winding his gloved hand in the air, he pushed those superheated molecules even further until they were a whirlwind born in the middle of the biodome. The tiny tornado picked up speed, drawing everything that was in the room towards it, everything but the Sith Lord who stood before it, a demon taunting the gods.  
  
Shraq shuddered, clawing his way along his vols stool, his sharp talon fingers digging into the flesh of the stool and tearing through it as Nefarion's tornado pulled the Warmaster to it. Nefarion did not expect the Vong warrior to surrender; it was a privilege in the devotee beliefs to meet death in the midst of battle.  
  
Nefarion dropped his arm, and instantly the tornado fizzled and the air cooled to its former temperature. With a quick glance, Nefarion took in what damage his little display had done to the Warmaster's chambers. Villips and amphistaffs littered the sponge floor, the villips hastily trying to find some form after the chaos of their ride, the amphistaffs slithering and hissing in rebuttal of their treatment.  
  
"Not ineffective, Warmaster Shraq," Nefarion said as the warrior hurried to regain his seat on the vols stool. "Not only are the power of the gods with me but they are inside of me." Concentrating he gathered a cushion of air and lifted a villip off the ground, the Force acting as a tiny dovin basal or repulsorlift, floating the villip to his outstretched hand. It fell as he let go of the Force and it plopped into his hand rebounding over and over again. "The Force is all-powerful Warmaster, and I have bonded with the gods to bring you the grasp of the galaxy."  
  
If Yuuzhan Vong physiology would have allowed, the Warmaster's eyes would have widened like a dogma receiving the full truth. Slowly he slid down the vols stool, coming to his knees where the implants dug deeper into the flesh, and bowed before the Sith Lord. "You have the devotion of the true Yuuzhan Vong, Lord Nefarion," Shraq spoke his oath, a clenched fist coming to pound on his breastplate.  
  
Nefarion did not allow the smile that he felt building, nor did he drop the repulsive villip bouncing in his hand. Instead, he cocked his head toward the Warmaster. "Then let us begin to bring in our lost brethren." 


	3. Just Being Around Her

Chapter 3: Just Being Around Her  
  
Laughter erupted from Anakin at the blindfolded nine-year-olds that were trying their hardest to catch up with Cherrz. Ben had used him the other day in his class, and had told Anakin of the effectiveness of having an actual Yuuzhan Vong in the room to quicken the ability to learn to feel the extragalactic travelers in the Force. Several times, Anakin could feel the wild tugs on the Force as the children tried to connect to the energy field in a different way than they had been taught. On Anakin's part, it was like teaching a foreign language after just attaining the knowledge yourself. There were still parts of this remarkable ability that he did not understand, even after long discussion with Ben, mulling over how it was that they had picked up on it so easily.  
  
One Bothan boy, baring his teeth in concentration, waved his shaggy arms as if to catch Cherrz, but instead only whipped the air around him. Anakin spotted his niece, Aunecah; she was getting close to actually connecting to Cherrz, but was still flickering in her attempts. Anakin had not expected them to grasp it all in one day, but in the meantime they could have fun stretching their experience and using their other abilities in the Force to find Cherrz.  
  
Before Anakin's death and rebirth, the Jedi had resorted to picking up on Yuuzhan Vong warriors by their absence in the Force rather than their presence, vacuums in the midst of an ebullient life. Now that the Jedi could feel their allies in the Force, Anakin's worry had switched to the black clad warriors that had attacked Bellalt under the direction of Lord Nefarion.  
  
[i]A Sith,[/i] Anakin whispered in his mind. He had fought against dark Jedi, against invaders of the galaxy, but never had he been forced to face off against the Jedi's ultimate enemy. The stories that his mother and Uncle Luke had told were enough to convince Anakin that he had never wanted to face such a creature of the darkness, someone who would embody evil so fully and readily. Now it appeared as though he had no choice.  
  
Luke had begged him to continue Ben's training and in a less verbal way, to make sure the younger Jedi remained safe and out of the hands of the Sith who wanted him. This Lord Nefarion would not stop even after his ruined attempt on Bellalt to capture Ben, it was only a matter of time before Ben and Anakin would have to face the Dark Lord again.  
  
The sound of giggling pulled Anakin back to his task at hand. There were several kids who were so close to Cherrz that he might not be able to dodge the young ones in time before they found him. Anakin didn't want them to win this easily. Reaching out to the Force, he put an invisible grasp on the separatist Yuuzhan Vong, raising Cherrz above the head of the nearest children as they swiped at the air in the space the Vong Jedi had previously been. Cherrz eyed him as if to say he was not playing fair, eliciting another chuckle from the reborn Jedi.  
  
This wasn't the only class that Anakin had accepted for the time being since the death of his uncle, but it certainly was one of his favorites, and he was not ashamed to admit that it had to do with the fact that his young niece was a member of it. Auni's long dark hair and dark eyes mimicked that of her mother's, although her personality tended to reflect that of her father rather than the Solo charm that her younger brother Tadeo possessed. Anakin had found being an uncle an experience he had always dreamt about, having always had a high opinion of his uncle Luke, and wanted to be everything that Luke had been to him.  
  
Anakin frowned at the thought of his deceased uncle. It seemed impossible that Luke Skywalker could die, that he could be defeated. Anakin had always thought that he would live forever, in that childhood fashion of idolizing heros. But Luke had fallen; to save his son he had given his life, leaving Ben an orphan and an Order that mourned his death.  
  
[i]Ben,[/i] Anakin thought mournfully. His cousin was making a stoic attempt to hide the anger and guilt that still resided within him, having forewitnessed and then witnessed the death of both his parents. Of course, Ben pretended that everything was just as it had been before, but Anakin had felt the energies swirling around his cousin. Ben did not understand why he had been left to fight the darkness alone, especially since his visions promised that the darkness would encompass him.  
  
Anakin had vowed even before Uncle Luke had given his life that he would fight the darkness beside Ben, that his cousin would not be lost as their grandfather had been. Still, he lacked the knowledge to help Ben; the boy held himself in so tightly that it was hard to break the shell of protection that he had placed around himself. Anakin had always been an open boy, if not a very talkative one, as opposed to Ben's reserve and partially self-inflicted isolation.  
  
Gently, Anakin set Cherrz down, the Yuuzhan Vong not wavering as he suddenly found the ground beneath him. The Council had accepted Cherrz's training, with heavy bullying from Ben, Anakin, and Luke before he died. There were some amongst the Order who did not like the idea of training Yuuzhan Vong in the Force, thinking that because they could not feel them they were an abomination to the energy field of life. A considerable effort had gone to showing that Ben and Anakin, and Analsa minutely, could connect on a Force level with the Yuuzhan Vong Separatist.  
  
As Cherrz was about to dodge some of the children that were coming at him blindly from the front, a little boy with red hair that stuck up in even tufts smacked his child hands into the Yuuzhan Vong's unsuspecting back.  
  
"Very good, Keel," Anakin said from his resting spot, knowing that the boy had used his instincts in the Force to catch Cherrz. "You may remove your blindfolds," he offered.  
  
Instantly the children tugged at the swatches of cloth, only to then use them as makeshift vibrowhips. Anakin felt the tug of a memory floating to the surface when he and his siblings had done the same thing under the watchful eye of their Master. At that age, Anakin had never thought that the situation would ever be reversed.  
  
Reaching out a hand, he snatched the blindfolds into his hands; nostalgia was all well and good, but he was the teacher and he must make them see that. The kids giggled and tried to catch the blindfolds as they soared through the air. It was a trick of his skill and control to keep the flapping ends from being caught by the tiny grubby hands, but he managed, even to keep the smile from flittering to his face.  
  
He held up his other hand to gather their attention, and waited as the paired eyes came to center on him. "How did Keel find Dorsca Cherrz without seeing him?"  
  
Aunecah raised her hand almost immediately. Anakin nodded her forward. "Because he could sense him through the Force."  
  
"That's correct. How many of you caught the glimmerings of where he was?"  
  
Several hands came up, dividing the students. Anakin wasn't surprised when Aunecah didn't raise her hand. His niece and namesake was such a linear thinker that outside the bar was often hard for her. With time and patience she would grasp it as well as she did anything else, it was time that would give her what she needed.  
  
"Very good," Anakin acknowledged those who had succeeded. For those who hadn't he added, "Don't be worried if you do not grasp it right away, sometimes it takes even a Jedi Knight time to fully understand the workings of the Force. I do, however, suggest that all of you walk through the Fasha tree forest and practice your technique." With that Anakin dismissed the class, waving a hand at Aunecah as she followed her classmates out.  
  
Cherrz came to stand next to him. "Thank you for your help, Cherrz," Anakin said with the ease of old friends. "Has anyone given you a schedule yet?"  
  
"Master Horn told me to 'just wander around,' and 'soak in the atmosphere'" Cherrz said as if he found the instructions both amusing and perplexing.  
  
Anakin snorted. "That's Corran alright." He paused long enough to stuff the swatches of cloth into his satchel. "I've convinced Ben to take a break from the classes he's teaching this afternoon, his own training is going to suffer if he doesn't keep up his studies, but after that I'm free. I've had experience in wandering."  
  
"How is he?" Cherrz asked, solemnly despite Anakin's attempt to lighten the mood.  
  
Anakin shrugged. He was having a hard enough time sorting out his own thoughts and feelings since he had woken from the oombassl and then losing Uncle Luke so soon afterwards that he could barely pretend to understand Ben's.  
  
"He's strong," the Jedi Knight answered simply. "He had already lost his mother not so long ago," this time Anakin paused to keep control of his tightly conflicting emotions when he thought of his beautiful strong aunt falling under the onslaught of Vronians. "Ben's a fighter, Cherrz. Don't worry, he'll come out alright."  
  
Even as he said it, Anakin thought it sounded lame in his ears. Ben was strong, but everyone had their vulnerabilities, and Anakin feared that there would be someone who could play on Ben's weaknesses easily. Anakin repressed a shudder. Lord Nefarion would probably be the one to exploit his young cousin, and the consequences of Ben's actions could be disastrous.  
  
Anakin believed that Ben was the 'Chosen One' for this generation, just as their grandfather had been back when the Republic had fallen and the Empire had risen from its ashes. The reborn Jedi had a feeling that Ben's choices, whether to fall under the pressure of so much loss or to rise above the Dark Side just as his father had, would define the turn of the galaxy. Again, Anakin was at a loss as to how to help his young cousin. In the end it came down to Ben.  
  
"I must be going, my friend," Anakin said to Cherrz, drawing his mind away from future possible events and into the present.  
  
"Of course, Jedi Solo," Cherrz said respectfully, and Anakin smiled at his formality.  
  
They separated outside of the training room, each heading in their own directions. As Anakin walked down the sparsely inhabited corridors of the Temple, he could still feel the shockwave that had encompassed everyone since Luke's death. It was a bittersweet reminder of how beloved his uncle really was.  
  
Coming around the corner, his thoughts lost in the torrent his life had become since his supposed death and then rebirth, Anakin backpedaled as he saw Jacen and Tahiri next to their suite door. Jacen had one hand on Tahiri's enlarged stomach, where their unborn child resided, and he leaned down to give her a quick kiss. Anakin slammed himself against the adjacent wall, hiding his presence from the two lovers, smashing his eyes closed.  
  
His breath caught in his chest and he molded to the wall as if he were a part of it. Why did the Force hate him?  
  
He could remember a time, not so long ago in his mind, when it had been his lips that Tahiri had sought out, the warmth of his smile, and the grasp of his hand. He knew that for her and Jacen it had been nearly sixteen years since he had passed away on Myrkr, but for Anakin it was little less then a season. It felt all very much like a betrayal to Anakin, in his heart if not in his mind, and he wished he could just push away the feelings he held inside of him for his brother's wife. It certainly wasn't going to help their splintered relationship if he didn't.  
  
The sound of bootsteps walking away told Anakin that Jacen was walking away, Anakin could feel that Tahiri was lingering as if afraid to return to their quarters until Jacen faded out of sight.  
  
"You can come out now, Anakin," Tahiri said in a quiet voice that in the serene silence of the Temple traveled to him.  
  
Chagrined and with a tremor of unfathomable anger, Anakin took a deep steadying breath before stepping away from the wall. She was dressed in a large deep green robe that set off her eyes. Her golden hair, loose and tousled by sleep lay in tufts on her shoulders, and from the hem of the robe Anakin caught the warm glow of slightly swollen pink toes.  
  
"Tahiri, you look lovely this morning," Anakin said in greeting, trying to keep the warmth and love he had for her out of his voice. And failing miserably.  
  
"It was never your custom to spy on me or your brother, Anakin," she chastised him as though he was no older than Tadeo.  
  
Anakin's face hardened. "Would you have me interrupting you, Jedi Veila- Solo?"  
  
She stepped forward, coming toe to toe with him, her neck kinking so that her eyes could stare up into his as if reading his soul. "Can we no longer be civil, my friend?"  
  
In the next moment Anakin wasn't sure exactly what had come over him. Tahiri did look lovely, the glow of pregnancy setting off her natural olive complexioned skin, her emerald green eyes studying him with such depth and perception. He moved, without his mind fully comprehending what he was doing. His head came down, bringing his lips down to brush against hers.  
  
For a moment Tahiri was too surprised to do anything, then abruptly she pulled away from him. "Anakin," she said in quiet admonishment.  
  
His heart pounded in his chest, threatening to shatter. "Do you not care for me as well, Tahiri?"  
  
"Of course I do," she answered, flustered and more than a little angry. "As a friend I have always loved you." Her green eyes fired with conviction. "But I'm in love with Jacen."  
  
That's when Tahiri changed before him, not physically or mentally, but in his mind's eye. This wasn't his boyhood friend who had surprisingly but joyously become so much more, but a stranger. Always before, Tahiri had been pumped full of nervous energy that had once come out in rushed sentences that even a protocol droid would find hard to keep up on. This Tahiri was calm, like a limpid pool, even in her frustration with him and their predicament.  
  
He had loved the girl, but this woman was unknown to him.  
  
"I'm sorry," he apologized softly, the memory of her yielding lips against his enforcing his new revelation.  
  
Whether she saw the devastation in his features or put it together in her quick mind, Tahiri's previous anger melted into sympathy. "Anakin...," she tried.  
  
He shook his head. "You're right. Tahiri Veila died - I mistook you for her. Excuse me, Jedi Solo, for my stupidity."  
  
Tears glimmered in those heart-seizing eyes. "We're not your enemies, Anakin."  
  
"No you're not," Anakin agreed. "But are you my allies? That remains to be seen."  
  
Tahiri's mouth opened in preparation to assert that she and Jacen were indeed on his side, but a voice interrupted her. "Let it lie, Tahiri," Ben said, appearing from the corner that Anakin had previously.  
  
He stepped past his cousin and approached Tahiri. "You need to rest," he admonished her.  
  
A fond smile crossed Tahiri's heart-shaped face, mixed with the sorrow she felt for the boy who had so recently lost his father. "Since when did you become a medic?" she gently teased, purposefully avoiding Anakin's eyes.  
  
"It's growing close Tahiri, she'll be arriving soon," Ben said.  
  
Anakin jerked. It wasn't so much what Ben had said but the way he said it. Had the Jedi's greatest seer witnessed the birth of Anakin's next niece?  
  
"Have you and Jacen decided on a name yet?" Ben asked.  
  
Tahiri shook her head. "Not yet, Ben."  
  
"She's going to be beautiful, Tahiri," Ben continued as if now possessed. "I know how much you've been worried about her."  
  
Tahiri nodded now, looking gratefully upon the young Jedi apprentice. "Thank you, Ben."  
  
He smiled at her, the first real one that Anakin had seen on the young Jedi's face since Bellalt. "Now will you listen to me?"  
  
Chuckling and rolling her eyes, Tahiri nodded. "Yes, Master," she said, before walking awkwardly through the door to her quarters, leaving Ben and Anakin alone.  
  
For a long time the seer and the reborn Jedi stared each other down, neither wavering. Ben broke the eerie silence first. "What was all that about?" he asked.  
  
"Contrary to what you may believe, Ben, you are my apprentice, and I would like to be respected," Anakin retorted.  
  
"Do you hope to seek respect by bullying Tahiri?" Ben questioned.  
  
Anakin blinked in astonishment. "I wasn't bullying her."  
  
Ben scoffed. "What do you call that emotional baggage you just laid on her? It is not her fault that you were taken and hidden from us."  
  
"There doesn't have to be fault to be pain, Ben," Anakin said, jilted.  
  
"Do you mean to add hers to yours?" Ben asked, gently this time.  
  
Anakin saw the opportunity to turn this away from him and onto his unsuspecting cousin. "Is that what you're doing, Ben? Keeping all your pain inside so that no one else has to feel it?"  
  
Ben's blue-green eyes suddenly flared with liquid metal. "This isn't about me," he argued weakly.  
  
Now it was Anakin's turn to soften towards his cousin. Ben looked everywhere first before looking at himself. He had such a giving heart that he often forgot that he had to work on his own problems before helping others with theirs. Anakin was ashamed of the way he had just compromised Tahiri needlessly; he hadn't really noticed until Ben had pointed it out, but Ben should not have had to point it out.  
  
"It never is, is it Ben?" Anakin asked. Ben turned and started down the hall, Anakin hurried to catch up with him. "I answered you honestly. Don't I get the same consideration?"  
  
Ben sighed, but it came out sounding more like a growl through his clenched teeth. "What does everyone expect me to do? Crawl up in the corner, cry myself to sleep every night, and never come out? I'm an orphan, Anakin. As were my parents. My grandparents left my parents, why should I be any different, Anakin?"  
  
That left the older Jedi without a ready answer. It was true. Anakin Skywalker had left his wife, who then had been forced to separate and hide from her children. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ben's other grandfather, had little choice but to protect the son and daughter of his traitorous apprentice, perhaps never knowing of the existence of his own child. Luke and Mara had each given their lives to protect those who had been unable to protect themselves. Mara for the surrounded Yuuzhan Vong on Vrona, Luke to protect his failing son, each made to help secure the stability of the galaxy around their son, each pushing Ben one step closer to breaking.  
  
"Ben you're not alone," Anakin assured him.  
  
Ben appeared as though he wanted to argue, but after a long moment just nodded as if too tired to keep up with the arguing. "You said something about picking up on my training?"  
  
"Sure," Anakin answered, picking up on Ben's diversion of the subject and grateful to get on a topic that would be easier to discuss. "You in the mood for some lightsaber training?"  
  
Shrugging, Ben said, "I could use the workout."  
  
Anakin knew what he meant. Nervous energy was thrumming through both Jedi, leaping between them as static electricity did when you dragged your boots too long on the carpet. Physical activity would help to relieve some of that pent-up energy that either Jedi could use less of and help them to get their minds off the possible present and future events.  
  
All Anakin had to do was look at Ben's darkly ringed eyes and know that his young cousin had not been sleeping, or in the miraculous event that he did get a bit it was nothing more than a few hours. Ben had not fully healed from the head injury the Sith Lord had given him in his attempt to escape Bellalt, and the medics had assigned strict bed rest to the boy.  
  
Surreptitiously, Anakin leaned back ever so slightly to see how the wound was healing. No easy task considering the amount of ruddy brown hair Ben sported. It was perhaps the only thing that gave Ben a slightly wild look, where everything else was so polished and trim, from his standard work boots to the lay of his tunics.  
  
"Can I ask you a question?" Anakin said, straightening once he was sure that the wound was healing nicely.  
  
"As long as it has nothing to do with my father or my mother," Ben said in his best deadpan.  
  
"What you told Tahiri about the baby, was that based on a vision or just gut instinct?" Anakin said in a rush, the very feel of Tahiri's name on his lips filling him with the torrent of mixed emotions.  
  
Ben did not hesitate in answering. "Vision," he stated tersely.  
  
"Have you received any others?" Anakin continued.  
  
It was impossible to miss the trepidation in Ben's face and thoughts, the mixture of fear and longing under the hesitancy. "There have been others," Ben answered slowly. "More than there have ever been before. I can stop them now, thanks to Dad, but I wish...," Ben trailed off.  
  
Anakin didn't need him to finish the thought, he knew what Ben wished for. You just wish that he was here with you. He winced at the pain buried in one so young.  
  
Ben must have misunderstood the wince, for he quickly continued. "It's not that I think you won't do a good job, Anakin, I know you'll do your best with my training."  
  
"Never apologize for wishing that you had your father back, Ben. I will never blame you for that," Anakin was just as quick to assure his distraught cousin. "As much as I look forward to training you, Ben, I know that he would have done it better."  
  
"There's a new one that's just started to come. It's elusive, like a wraith moving from shadow to shadow. I can't follow it, but I think something terrible is about to happen."  
  
[/hr]  
  
"This is so frustrating," Luke Skywalker said between ground teeth.  
  
Obi-Wan Kenobi smiled at his former apprentice, the boy he had watched over for so long now a man before his eyes, but showing that still some things never changed. "Tell me about it."  
  
The two Jedi no longer existed on the plane of the living, nor were their bodies like those of the two young Jedi that were so dear to Luke that he found it hard to cope with the separation between them. It was barely over a week since Luke had departed the plane that Ben and Anakin existed on and had joined the pantheon of Jedi that had gone before him, and he felt as though he was a stranger in a strange land that could see the curved line of his home world against the star dusted sky but could not reach it.  
  
His guide in death, as often times in life, was Obi-Wan Kenobi, whose self- proclaimed failure with Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker, had brought the Jedi Knight to be exiled on the sand dunes of Tatooine. At that time, Luke had only known him as Ben Kenobi, a crazy old hermit as defined by his Uncle Owen, and someone not to get involved with. The fateful arrival of two droids had catapulted Luke into events that would leave his life very different from the farm boy he had been raised to be.  
  
That boy would have laughed at anyone who had told him he would one day revive the Jedi Order and remove the Sith from the galaxy. Except the Sith weren't all gone, somehow one had remained, one that could possibly be as cunning and cruel as Palpatine himself, and wanted Luke's son.  
  
"I've got to go to him," Luke announced.  
  
Obi-Wan's smile flipped down into a frown. "No, you do not," the older Jedi countered smoothly. "It is too early for you to make any sort of appearance."  
  
"But you did," Luke switched the tables.  
  
"That was necessary, to prevent you from getting yourself killed aboard the Death Star. If you hadn't run when you did, you would have died then and there, and the weight of the Jedi would have fallen on your sister's shoulders," Obi-Wan explained.  
  
Luke felt old impatience rise, something that he hadn't felt since his younger days. "But Ben needs me, they both need me."  
  
"Need I remind you to be patient?" Obi-Wan asked as though it was the basis of all knowledge.  
  
Luke took the chastisement, and instantly took a shuddering breath to calm the worry that filled him. "But he's my son," Luke said, calmly but forlornly.  
  
"And my grandson," Obi-Wan added. "Do you think I love him so little? But to interfere now would cost you, believe me."  
  
Luke's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"  
  
"When I came to you on Dagobah to explain further about Vader, and reveal Leia's true identity I was strictly forbidden," Obi-Wan answered. "It was thought that my presence was not necessary. I disagreed. I felt that I owed you an explanation, especially after what Master Yoda had just told you, so I went against my orders."  
  
The younger Jedi Master's eyes widened in surprise. He had never imagined that there were rules to follow after death. As much as he wanted to ask Obi-Wan what had happened after his disobedience, Luke did not. He could tell that Obi-Wan was uncomfortable with the remembrance, and thus it must not have been that pleasant. He shook his head.  
  
"There still so much for me to learn," Luke mused softly to himself.  
  
"Many believe that learning stops after death, but you soon find out that your greatest wisdom and knowledge come afterwards," Obi-Wan told him in a soothing voice. "It's how I learned about Mara."  
  
Luke looked to his former mentor and father-in-law. "You did not know of her existence before?" Obi-Wan shook his head. "Is that what you meant by allies I would never have suspected when you said goodbye on Coruscant?"  
  
Obi-Wan nodded. "I couldn't overtly tell you, that would raise too many questions." A smile played upon the aged features that Luke had remembered so long with fondness. "The Force told me of the good you two would do together, despite the mess that Palpatine had made of her life."  
  
"I was afraid that you would object. Considering that the old Order forbade such connections to be formed," Luke said, relieved if confused.  
  
Obi-Wan cocked a greyed eyebrow. "How do you suppose Mara came into existence, Luke?"  
  
A chuckle burst from the two Jedi, each thankful for the levity that it afforded them. Too much was happening to the ones they loved, and it seemed as for now they were helpless to stop it. "I won't ask you to share the details," Luke said in between breaths.  
  
Ben's smile remained. "You named your son after me, or so I assume. I always wondered why?"  
  
Shrugging, Luke peeled his eyes away from his son and nephew walking off to their practice session. "You gave so much for me, Ben, it was a way to remember you; and also my Ben reacted to the name, reaching out to it as if I had called him." Luke looked at his old mentor steadily. "So you are my judge, what do you say?"  
  
"Does it matter?" Obi-Wan asked.  
  
"From you it does," Luke stated. "I want to make sure that your sacrifice does not feel in vain."  
  
Obi-Wan rested a hand on Luke's shoulder. "Never fear my feelings toward you, Luke Skywalker. You have done well." 


	4. I Can't Keep the Visions Out of my Head

Chapter 4: I Can't Keep the Visions Out of my Head.  
  
He was trapped in the vision all over again. Standing upon the Tower of Light, watching as his future self looked maniacally upon his Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Just as before, Ben tried to deny this future, to stop what was to come. This future wasn't in his heart, he did not wish for domination, only to be unnoticed. He had not wanted to be remembered neither in infamy nor in honor, he only wished to do the good that his parents had taught him to seek.  
  
The breeze picked up, and Ben ran across the tower rooftop and away from the darkness that he would become. With a leap, he was over the rooftop and plunging down towards the Yuuzhan Vong, hopefully they would tear him apart as soon as he touched the ground or the impact would snap his spine and kill him just as effectively. Perhaps death was the only way out of this future, the one way to change what was to come. Then he could be amongst his parents, be secure and safe in their embrace.  
  
But just as his body would have impacted with the soft marshy earth of Coruscant, Ben woke with a jerk, robbing him of the opportunity he could only seek in sleep and never could consider in consciousness.  
  
But there had to be another way, he would create another way. Quickly, he leaped from his sleep couch, his blankets tripping him after being entangled around him during his vision. Using the Force, he flung the blankets away from him and trudged into the small chest he used to house the few things he cherished as well as his travel equipment. Tossing the top upward, he reached in and grabbed his satchel. Stuffing his father's Jedi robe into it and some extra tunics, Ben cinched the string closed.  
  
It was only a matter of moments before he was out of his sleep clothes and in a pair of pale tunics and pants. Buckling his utility belt over the folds of his tunic to keep it together, he reached out to the Force and pulled his lightsaber to him. The pillow, the one he had taken from his father's room, was nicely placed inside his trunk.  
  
Looking around his room one last time, he dashed outside and through his father's room, and tripped face-forward right into the stationary Artoo Detoo. "Blast it to Coruscant's seven moons," Ben cursed under his breath as he grabbed his now very painful ankle. He had forgotten that Artoo was stationed there, and had just returned from a maintenance rehaul.  
  
The little droid bleeped at him in stern indignation, not incredibly happy that he had been interrupted in his power-up cycle. Ben was thankful that Threepio had been given to Anakin and was now staying in his room, it would be easier to convince Artoo of his plan and much quieter. Threepio would point out that it was hardly diplomatic for Ben to be leaving in the middle of the night, that it would severely disrupt the workings of the Jedi Temple if they all had to search for him.  
  
"Shh, Artoo," Ben hissed at the protocol droid that was practically like a member of the family, like Uncle Han and Aunt Leia. "I need to get out of here. Get down to father's X-Wing, and I'll be there in a moment. I've got to leave a note for Aunt Leia."  
  
Artoo moaned mournfully at the mention of his deceased owner and Ben could readily understand his feelings, but it wasn't long before Artoo was emitting a string of questions that were hard for Ben to follow. Having grown up with the constant presence of astromech droids he could understand the bleeps and tweets as well as any protocol droid, and although he had often wondered in the past whether he could speak to the droids in the same manner, he had never tried it.  
  
"No, I'm not going to argue this with you. We're going to take a little sabbatical," Ben explained. He didn't have to tell Artoo that he was planning on never returning, and was offering his resignation from the Jedi Order in the holomessage to Aunt Leia.  
  
With much complaining on Artoo's part and begging for silence on Ben's, the young seer finally convinced the cylindrical droid to head down to the docking bay and do what preparations he could do without actually being placed inside the droid housing just behind the X-Wing's cockpit. Which was incredible, considering the high counter-part level that Artoo and his father's X-Wing ran at. Sometimes Ben thought all Artoo had to do was twitter and the X-Wing would respond.  
  
As soon as Artoo rolled out, Ben slouched into the chair that was just before the comm unit console, thanking the Force silently. This was going to be difficult, but perhaps to be the 'Chosen One' meant that he must choose a different life than that of a Jedi. Especially if his visions of darkness continued to thrive in his dreams.  
  
Outlining a message to Aunt Leia, he keyed it in, then pressed it forward. With any luck, no one would notice he was gone until the next morning, when he'd be far away from Coruscant.  
  
Satchel bunched under one arm, Ben did his best to close up the Skywalker quarters before inching out of the door with obvious reluctance. It had been home only because his father had been there, as had all the many places the Skywalkers had relocated to, but he would never have a home again. With a sigh, Ben placed his hand on the doorplate and set it for lock.  
  
His steps were quick and fluid, the heels of his boots not making a sound on the Temple stone, and he was halfway to the docking bay when he ran into trouble. "Jacen," Ben exclaimed upon nearly running into his cousin. This was just his luck, it would have to be one of his family he would run into. "What are you doing up this time of night?" he asked, hoping to stave off any questions as to why he was prowling the Temple corridors in the wee hours of the night.  
  
His bearded cousin bounced a jar of pickled ginroot in his hand. "Tahiri is having one of her obscenely late cravings." Jacen's brandy brown eyes focused on Ben's satchel. "What are you doing out this late?"  
  
"Aunt Leia missed some things when she cleaned out Father's room, I thought I would finish the job," Ben lied, and knew instantly that he was caught. He was a terrible liar, mainly because whenever he did the guilt caused his eyes to shift to a deeper hue of grey.  
  
"May I?" Jacen asked, pointing at Ben's satchel.  
  
Ironically, it was Anakin who came to his rescue temporarily. "I'd appreciate it if you left my apprentice to me, Jacen,"  
  
What is this, a family reunion in the hallway? Ben thought despairingly. He had hoped to go unnoticed, and here were two members of his family before he even left the Temple grounds.  
  
"He may be your apprentice, Anakin, but that doesn't stop him from being my cousin and therefore my concern," Jacen countered smoothly.  
  
For a long while the two brothers eyed each other, and Ben fleetingly wondered if Jacen knew of the kiss Anakin had given Tahiri. Force knew that the two brothers were not likely to form a mutual admiration society any time soon, and Ben didn't really enjoy looking at the antagonism between the two. He had hoped to be able to help smooth the bumps and ditches that had been created and left in the Yuuzhan Vong war, but he had bigger problems to deal with. Mainly, stopping his vision from coming to fruition.  
  
His heart sank into his stomach at the cutting way Anakin addressed his brother. "He's my cousin as well as my apprentice, and I have complete authority over him."  
  
"He is still in this conversation," Ben interrupted.  
  
He was instantly ignored by the two warring brothers. It was a contest of wills, each hurting in their own way, each wanting to reach out to the other and close the rift between them, each too blasted stubborn to do so. Ben looked down the corridor towards the docking bay, where his destiny was calling him. They wouldn't notice if he left, they were too caught up in proving which brother was right. How easy it would be to just leave them to their petty bickering. However, Ben could not.  
  
"Would you two give it a rest?" Ben suddenly exploded into the conversation. Anakin and Jacen froze in surprise. Ben pointed an accusatory finger at Jacen. "Do you want to wait until Anakin is really dead, evaporated into the Force, and vanished from you forever, to mend this stupid argument?" Ben asked pointedly, but he didn't give Jacen time to answer. He flung his finger in Anakin's direction. "And do you want all your memories of your brother to be the extent of this argument? Cause one day one of you will be very gone, and you will wish that you could have said the things in your heart instead of the hateful words that came from your head."  
  
Stunned beyond speech, the two brothers were motionless for a long moment, and Ben took the advantage of their momentary paralysis to make his retreat. He had given up all hopes of stealth, and just ran with all his might toward the docking bay, holding at bay the tears that threatened to come from his grey-shot eyes.  
  
[/hr]  
  
Jacen glanced sheepishly at Anakin, but the younger brother ignored the attempt at reconciliation, he was too caught up in stopping Ben from leaving the Temple. Artoo had contacted See-Threepio, and had relayed that Ben was planning on escaping the Temple in the middle of the night. It hadn't taken long for Anakin to guess why his cousin would be sneaking out without telling anyone of his whereabouts. It was a good thing that Artoo's programming had been modified to look out for Ben's safety and not to obey the boy at all costs.  
  
"Listen, Anakin," Jacen started but Anakin cut him off.  
  
"I don't have time for this right now," he said in a snap. His worry for Ben preempting his hopes of ever reconciling with Jacen. He gave his brother a hard look. "Stay out of this."  
  
Jacen looked as though he was going to form a very convincing argument that would eventually stall Anakin from chasing after their retreating cousin, but even as his mustached mouth began to open it closed back up again. "Go after him," Jacen said, with a wave of his hand.  
  
Anakin caught up with Ben just outside of the docking bay. He caught Ben's shoulder and was instantly thrown off. "I have to go, Anakin."  
  
"Ben, what's happened? I don't understand this," Anakin attempted to get his cousin calm by talking to him. Han had always said the best way to deal with people was to talk their ear off, something that had always been difficult for Anakin.  
  
Ben stopped once again and turned to face him. It was the first time that Anakin noticed the gauntness in Ben's features, the evidence of little sustenance and even less sleep, causing his cheeks to sink in just enough to bring the bones out in sharp points. The dark rings that had been noticed early on were darker, and made Ben look like a phantom of himself.  
  
"Dreams, Anakin, always dreams. I can't shake them," Ben said, and there was more than fear in his young voice, there was desolation, as if he was trapped in a cage with no way to escape. The younger Jedi spun on his heel and began his retreat once again.  
  
"Ben Skywalker, stop this instant," Anakin said, now desperate to keep his younger cousin in the Temple where he could find the mental harmony he needed. Of course, Anakin was no different in his instability.  
  
"You're not my father," Ben shot back, his retreat halting several paces away from his cousin, his shoulders hunching as if always in defeat.  
  
Anakin froze too, not wanting to cause Ben to feel any more trapped then he did. "You're right, I'm not your father, but he did entrust you into my care, Ben."  
  
"My father was a coward," Ben said harshly. "He couldn't bear to let me die, so he let the darkness continue."  
  
Anakin's hand flew of its own accord, striking Ben's cheek with such forcefulness that his imprint remained on the boy's thin cheek. There were a lot of things Anakin could take, but such hateful words coming from Luke's own son was not one of them.  
  
"Never talk about your father like that," Anakin hissed.  
  
Ben's eyes were as wide as a Mon Cal's. "He left me to face my destiny alone."  
  
"But you can't run from your destiny, Ben. You are the 'Chosen One'," Anakin tried one last time.  
  
A deep scowl creased the skin between Ben's ruddy brown eyebrows. "I don't want to be the 'Chosen One'. Our Grandfather was the 'Chosen One', and he fell. I'm bound by that fate, Anakin." A ragged breath escaped the young seer. "Don't you understand I'm doing this to protect you and the Order? What I will become is devastating. I refuse to tread that path."  
  
"And if you leave and the dreams persist, Ben?" Anakin questioned, suddenly frightened by what lengths Ben would go to stop his dreams. Would the young Jedi take his life?  
  
The boy swallowed hard. "I will do whatever is necessary to protect the Order and what remains of my family. Even if that means protecting them from myself."  
  
Anakin started forward again. "Ben, don't do this," he pleaded.  
  
"I'm sorry, Anakin, but I have no choice," the boy muttered.  
  
Abruptly, Ben's arm shot out and Anakin was flown through the air against the corridor wall. Anakin reached out to the Force and tried to peel away the invisible vice-like fingers of Ben's Force grip, but try as he might he could not prevail. He had only caught a flicker of the power Ben could hold and he was reminded of the attack he had made on Ben before he had known who his cousin was. How easily Ben had thrown off the energy above Coruscant's atmosphere.  
  
"This isn't the solution," Anakin cried to Ben.  
  
"It's the only one I have left," Ben countered and pushed his hand to the doorplate. Anakin caught Artoo trundling around an old style X-Wing twittering impatiently as the door rose open. "Goodbye, Anakin. I will always remember you." And a vision of Ben and Anakin standing next to one another entered the older Jedi's mind, as if Ben wanted to leave an imprint to remember him by. It was more than Anakin's heart could take, Ben saying his last goodbyes as if the Force was already calling to him.  
  
The door hissed closed, and a moment later, a blue hued blade cut through the circuitry of the docking bay door plate. Jacen came running into the corridor, his brandy brown eyes widening in surprise as he spotted Anakin hanging literally in the air, just as the engines of an X-Wing roared to life.  
  
"Stop him," Anakin called down to his brother, now thankful for Jacen's interfering presence.  
  
With an effort, Jacen tore his gaze from his floating brother and jogged over to the door. Helplessly he looked at the mesh of melted wire and turned back to Anakin "I'm not sure I'll be able to rig this," he explained.  
  
Anakin sighed, he should have known better. Jacen's ability in the Force had never given him much of an edge in the mechanical aspect as it did with Anakin and Jaina; his older brother was better with the many different living beings that could inhabit a planet, from the tiniest of stinging gnats to the largest of Rancors.  
  
"Do your best," Anakin urged him on.  
  
With a stiff nod, Jacen settled on the doorplate. Hoping that Ben was too distracted to keep a strong grip on him, Anakin once again attempted to peel Ben's mental fingers from him like an unyielding glove. Whether because he was more prepared for the strength of Ben's connection to the Force, or because Ben was busy with other things, Anakin succeeded this time.  
  
He fell to the floor, using the Force to cushion the blow to his feet from the stone Temple floor and he turned the fall into a roll, coming up on his feet instantly. He joined Jacen at the docking bay door, and peered into the mesh of charred wiring. Ben was good, he had managed to melt all the necessary wiring Anakin would have needed to open the door the conventional way. However, Anakin wasn't in the mood for conventional. Reaching at his belt, he pulled his lightsaber and thumbed it on, violet light slinked out from the pommel and Anakin dug the concentrated energy blade into the metal doors.  
  
It wasn't long before Anakin heard the pitch of another lightsaber, and a green light came to merge with Anakin's violet one. Together he and Jacen cut a whole through the door, kicking the now useless metal aside, and leaping through the gap. However, they didn't go any further then that. They saw Ben's X-wing rising up into the dark sky's of Coruscant, the top of Artoo's silver and blue head twirling around as he called to them.  
  
Jacen was instantly on his comlink. "Temple space control, this is Jedi Master Jacen Solo, there is a lone XJ type X-Wing making way to the atmosphere, I want a designation of its trajectory."  
  
"Yes, sir. Do you want a squad to follow it?" the traffic controller asked. Jacen turned to Anakin questioningly.  
  
It was a good question. They could follow Ben and just report on the boy's location, but if Ben were to discover their presence, and it was very likely he would, the boy would feel more like that trapped patra cat. Anakin shook his head. "He's scared, Jacen. He's seen some pretty terrible stuff lately and it's not just the death of his parents." If anything could be any more terrible than that. "I'll find him with the trajectory."  
  
To Anakin's surprise, Jacen just nodded, and turned back to relay the orders to the traffic controller. Jacen and the air controller were just mumbles in Anakin's ear. He had failed to keep Ben safe. He had an overwhelming feeling that if he didn't find Ben soon, the boy's life could be forfeit.  
  
"We're going to have to talk to the Council," Jacen interrupted his thoughts.  
  
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I suppose we will," Anakin said, absently rubbing his head where Ben's Force-push had knocked it into the wall.  
  
Jacen scrutinized him. "Are you alright?"  
  
"I didn't know he could do that," Anakin whispered.  
  
"It's amazing you were even able to undo his web, Anakin. Ben's power can't be charted, he holds back on it most of the time, because it is dangerous, but he's not afraid to use it if need be," Jacen explained. The bearded Jedi shook his head. "I don't know how the Council will react to this."  
  
"Why?" Anakin blinked.  
  
Jacen shrugged. "It's always struck me that the Council did not trust Ben fully outside of Luke's instruction. You've heard about all the trips he's taken?" Anakin nodded. "Look at it from their point of view, some of them are old enough to remember the devastation our grandfather wrecked as Darth Vader. Uncle Luke they had no problem with, he started the Order, basically taught them the light of the Force, but Ben... Ben could be a danger in his recklessness."  
  
"Can't we just explain to them that he's leaving because he thinks he is protecting them and the Order?" Anakin argued, never thinking that Ben could possibly be a threat. Visions or no visions, Anakin was not about to believe that the kind heart he had so easily connected with in his cousin could ever become what Ben had foreseen.  
  
"We'd have to reveal the fact that Ben is a seer, Anakin. Uncle Luke did not want that," Jacen countered.  
  
Anakin couldn't argue with his brother. Luke had not wanted his son exploited and studied until Ben could actually control his visions and until they learned more about them. Anakin had been trying to pick up where Luke had left off, but Ben had been lax in his efforts, lost in the perceived haplessness of his life.  
  
Dreams, Anakin, always dreams. I can't shake them. How often had the Force plagued Ben with the imminence of his darkness?  
  
"Why would the Force make him see such things, Jacen?" Anakin asked, thankful temporarily for the presence of his older brother.  
  
"The Force does not always make its will known. Perhaps Ben will be able to decipher what the Force wants with him," Jacen answered.  
  
Anakin nodded. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"  
  
[/hr]  
  
Ben felt terrible about holding Anakin against his will, but he knew that if he had let his cousin go, Anakin would have stopped him from leaving and then Ben would destroy the Order as he would destroy himself. A shudder racked his thinning frame. He hoped with leaving the Order he would no longer be plagued by visions of darkness.  
  
His cheek where Anakin had struck him stung, but Ben was not angry at his cousin. He had spoken wrongly of his father, the words spilling from a deep desire to have Luke back and an anger at the man for leaving him in the first place. Artoo twittered behind him, admitting that he had been the one to inform Anakin of his vacating the Temple.  
  
Traitorous droid, Ben thought in a lame attempt at humor. "It's alright, Artoo, I probably would have done the same if the roles had been switched."  
  
The droid emitted a series of beeps and clicks which Ben easily interpreted without the need of his father's X-wing. He didn't answer the droid right away. He didn't actually know where he could go. The whole galaxy was at his disposal, and yet Ben was crippled with indecision.  
  
Anakin would be on his tail, possibly Jacen and Jaina with him; where would be the first place they would look for him? Flipping several switches on his console, he accessed his star charts, visuals of star constellations zooming in view. Opening himself to the Force, Ben kept a tight grip on his control, and let the energy field's guidance pick the correct system he should go to.  
  
Opening eyes he hadn't realized he had closed, a smile flittered upon his face and realized how perfect the planet was. He could easily hide out there without anyone the wiser, and Naboo was on the way so he could keep his promise to the Gungans and make a visit at the same time.  
  
"Set course for Naboo, Artoo," Ben said, feeling somewhat lighter than before.  
  
The droid trumpeted at the final response. "You know the planet?" Artoo tooted that he did. "How?" The droid's response this time was much more confused. Artoo answered that he didn't know how, his binary brain just told him he did. To Ben's knowledge Luke hadn't brought Artoo to Naboo when he had gone to retrieve his son, and he couldn't remember Luke ever mentioning being there before, although he too had felt connected to the planet. Perhaps there was something of a mystery to solve on Naboo.  
  
Leaning back into the pilot's seat, Ben ran a gloved hand over the armrest. The leather was worn and would have been cracked if Luke hadn't taken such meticulous care of his fighter. On the overhead dash was Luke's black glove that he sometimes wore when he was feeling his prosthetic hand or in memory of the day he had lost it.  
  
Ben's heart strained with missing his father, but it was also bittersweet. He could remember as a child helping his father maintain the X-wing, watching his father as he explained how to keep the intake valves clean, and checking coolant and other necessary fluids. The time Luke and Mara had taken for making up the tie they had missed when he had been little. Their understanding when he did not quickly take to his parents.  
  
The emptiness was a constant ache inside of him. He missed his father's gentle but stern nature, his mother's quick wit and willingness to show him the wonders of the galaxy. He had quickly become enamored with his parents, the way they had tried to make up for their absence during the Yuuzhan Vong war, and the whirlwind his first few weeks with his parents steadily there were.  
  
He ran a hand through his hair, ruddy brown hair that fell just below his collar. He couldn't keep thinking about the past, it hurt to much and reminded him of what he was missing now. Many times he reminded himself that 'There was no death. Only the Force.' But the Force continually made him revisit his failures, and experience those that were to come. To many the Force was a gift; to Ben Skywalker it was a curse and a responsibility.  
  
Taught by his parents and many other Jedi Masters, Ben took his responsibility seriously. He would not have left the Order if he had felt that there were any way he would not become what he had foreseen. So many times he had hoped to change what was to come, to alter what the Force showed him, and every time he had failed.  
  
Then there was the 'Chosen One' prophecy to bring balance. There was a question whether Ben was really the 'Chosen One' in his mind, if not in the rest of the Order. He couldn't help but think that Anakin was the real one to bring balance, having been saved from death. Ben was the one who would bring the imbalance.  
  
Stop it, he admonished himself. You will stop the darkness before it comes. Perhaps to bring balance means that you must join Dad and Mom.  
  
It was one of the biggest taboos in the Jedi Order. Such a self-sacrifice could be construed as suicide, and that was against the will of the Force. If Ben had to sacrifice his life to keep himself from destroying the galaxy, would that be akin to suicide? He didn't know, but he would stop it from happening, no matter what the cost.  
  
"I stand alone, I fall alone." 


	5. Without the Approval of the Council if I...

Chapter 5: Without the Approval of the Council if I Must.  
  
Twelve sets of eyes were centered on Anakin Solo, yet he did not feel daunted by their stares, nor did he feel completely comfortable with them either. He had been encapsulated in the Yuuzhan Vong [i]oombassl[/i], a living equivalent of carbon freezing, when Uncle Luke had founded the New Order's High Council, and so was not accustomed to the way the governing body of the Jedi worked. He recognized several of the Jedi who sat on the High Council, but knew only Corran Horn and Kyp Durron well enough to gauge what their response would be. He felt that both Jedi Masters would understand Ben's plight, if not to the full extent that Anakin did. Ben's secret would have to be revealed for that, and the Solo family all agreed that this was not an option.  
  
To either side of him stood Jacen and Jaina; behind him, his parents, Han and Leia, quietly lent their support. Although Han was not an actual member of the Jedi Order, he was often welcomed into the High Council, for not all those who sat on the Council could touch the Force. The room was circular, with floor to ceiling panels covering most of it, save for the entry way from the anteroom. The High Council sat in individualized chairs that formed an inner ring around the room, much like the old stories he had heard about legendary knights sitting at a round table, so that no one would be any more important then the other.  
  
One chair that was in the direct center of the room and opposite from the entry doors was vacant, another memorial to the fact that Luke Skywalker was gone and that he could not be replaced. Luke had resigned from the High Council to spend more time with his son for training and otherwise. Of course, there had been little time before events had swept Ben and Anakin to Linnal, where the first strike against the Yuuzhan Vong to rile up undying resentment towards the members of this galaxy had taken place.  
  
Anakin had been catapulted into a life that was changed beyond all his imagination, where the Yuuzhan Vong had become allies to the Republic, and the galaxy had aged and grown over fifteen years. The New Republic had settled down, the government stable with strong leadership from Chief of State Kuantin Tiv, and the firm basis of the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. A far cry from the galaxy he could remember just a few months ago.  
  
The changes weren't all external either. Anakin himself had changed in ways that he had yet to measure. He was more cautious then the seventeen-year- old had been, as if his mind now realized that he was no longer a child and had hastened to catch up with his body, leaving him feeling more often then not slightly off-kilter. Such an imbalance was dangerous inside a Jedi Knight, which he had been made upon his revival, and that too was a marked difference from the boy he had been less than a year ago.  
  
As Anakin outlined the events of Ben's escape from the Temple, purposefully leaving out any details that might hint to Ben's abilities, the six non- Jedi members watched him with open objection. It struck Anakin now why Jacen had been so hesitant to bring this to the Council. There were certain things about the Jedi that could not be understood unless you yourself could touch the energy field. Some of the misunderstandings that he had with his father came from the same essence that now lead the non-Jedi to frown at Anakin's continuing story.  
  
"So what you are saying, Jedi Solo, is that your apprentice left the Jedi Order, without provocation or permission, and kept you from stopping him?" the newest member of the High Council, Intoral Ller, a Senator from the planet Amppor III, a species which sported a round smooth head with barely a dimple of a nose and opening for a mouth, with eyes that stood on stalks that waved through the air, asked.  
  
[i]Haven't you been listening?[/i] Anakin thought derisively, and instantly received a scowl from Jacen. He chose to ignore it. His brother had tried to be helpful with Ben, but that did not mean that everything between them was suddenly mended, and the continued admonishments that Jacen gave him did not help anything.  
  
"Yes, Senator Ller. Ben is upset. He has just lost his father to the Sith, and feels that he is a danger to those around him if the Sith comes after him," which was partially true, if from a certain point of view.  
  
"Are you sure that it was a Sith that struck Master Skywalker down?" Council Member Ller continued.  
  
Anakin felt frustrated. How had his uncle managed to lead this Council of such a diverse group? Cocking a dark brown eyebrow, he asked, "Do you distrust Master Skywalker's word so easily? I would think that if he said it was Sith then that wouldn't be in question."  
  
To either side of the vacant chair, Corran and Kyp nodded, they each had encountered the dead Sith Lord Exar Kun, and knew what havoc a Sith could raise. "Master Skywalker's word is above suspicion here," Kyp reminded the Council.  
  
"What is it that you really want, Anakin?" Corran asked, trying to catch his eye. It was obvious that the Jedi Master was trying to tell him something, but Anakin could not figure out what.  
  
Anakin sighed, grateful that they were finally coming to the point of this whole meeting. "That I be allowed to pursue Ben alone. Any involvement from the Order will make him feel even more caged in than he already is."  
  
"Why would Ben feel caged, Anakin?" the Jedi Master Kyle Katarn asked.  
  
That hit to close to the mark, and Anakin hurried to come up with an explanation. "Ben feels that he is in an unsolvable situation. If he stays here, the Sith will come for him and possibly endanger the lives of every Jedi in the Temple. If he leaves, he's out in the open, but at least it will keep the Temple safe."  
  
Anakin's answer seemed to satisfy Katarn's curiosity, and Anakin breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
But again, another Jedi entered into the conversation. This time Master Sebatyne, a Barabel Jedi that had suffered much loss during the first Yuuzhan Vong war. "Why do you suppose the Szith iz zo interezted in Ben?"  
  
[i]That's the real trick isn't it[/i], Anakin thought. If he knew why this Lord Nefarion wanted Ben, it would be so much easier to thwart any attempt the man might make at capturing his cousin. But like the Sith himself, his intentions were cloaked in mystery.  
  
"I couldn't say, Master Sebatyne. Ben is extraordinarily talented, and with the Skywalker heritage it wouldn't surprise me if we have become somewhat of an obsession for the Sith," Anakin answered off the top of his head. Again the Jedi side of the Council nodded, and the non- Jedis' frowns deepened.  
  
Council Member Ller caught Anakin's attention with a gesture of his pincer hand. "Are you saying that Apprentice Skywalker's power makes him an object of desire for the Sith?"  
  
"As would myself, my siblings, and my mother," Anakin countered, knowing where the Senator was heading with this.  
  
"But the Sith you say is after Ben," Member Ller reminded.  
  
"I don't presume to understand the workings of the Sith, Member Ller," Anakin retorted sharply. "Lord Nefarion said as much when he was dueling my uncle. Master Skywalker in turn asked that I watch after his son, it was his dying wish, one that I will not take lightly."  
  
Kyp, seeing that Anakin's frustration was beginning to come through, decided to intercede before things got out of hand. "Does anyone have any answerable questions for Jedi Anakin?" That brought the High Council to silence; even Ller seemed chastened. "Then I would ask the Solo family to step outside and allow us to confer," Kyp said, with a bow in the direction of the Solos.  
  
Once Anakin stepped out of the Council room, he let out his frustration. "That pompous, know-it-all, poodoo brained... Bantha," he said harshly under his breath. "Whoever let him on the Council must be a Tusken short of a tribe." He looked up to find all his family staring at him as though he himself had suddenly turned into one of the desert dwellers of Tatooine. "What?"  
  
Han smiled one of the Solo crooked grins. "Now that's my boy," he claimed happily. Anakin couldn't help but smile back at him.  
  
Leia gave them both a disapproving glare. "Senator Ller can be difficult, but it is just because he remembers what the Emperor did to the galaxy. And his viewpoint is exceptional."  
  
"He's practically accusing your nephew of being in conspiracy with the Sith," Anakin argued. "How can you ignore that?"  
  
"Because this is not the only time that I will be forced to work with the man, Anakin. He is difficult, but so are you on occasion," Leia said, with that twinkle in her eye that told him she was teasing... mostly.  
  
The smile left Anakin's face as he turned to scrutinize his brother. "Is this why you were so worried about bringing it to the Council?"  
  
Stroking his beard, Jacen nodded. "I've noticed them squeezing their hold on the Jedi since Uncle Luke's death. Mom's right, they don't want another Vader, and they're worried that you can't handle Ben."  
  
"He's not a circus animal, Jacen," Anakin retorted, slightly stung by the assumption that he couldn't train his own cousin. "So if they do turn down my request, what will they do?"  
  
"They'll most likely send out a group of their own picking to haul Ben back to the Temple. They want him to continue his training, they just want to keep their eyes on him at all times," Jacen answered.  
  
"I'm his Master, his welfare depends on me," Anakin argued.  
  
Jacen shook his head. "The Council supersedes that bond," he said, sounding as though he didn't totally agree with it.  
  
"Not with me they don't." Anakin's gaze returned to Han. "Dad, I need a favor," Anakin said unexpectedly. "I need the [i]Falcon[/i]." He was asking a lot of his father, who treasured that ship and the many memories that were based upon it.  
  
Han hesitated. "What are you planning, Anakin?"  
  
"This is another one of your 'forgiveness is always easier then permission' operations, isn't it?" Jaina answered with a question, obviously remembering the time he went to rescue Tahiri on Yavin 4.  
  
"We all agree that Ben is in trouble," Anakin said, receiving nods from the rest of the Solos. "Jacen, you saw him the other night. He's terrified out of his mind that he won't be able to change the future his visions show. Do you really think it would be good for him if a group of Jedi hoping to impress the Council go after him?"  
  
Jacen didn't wait long to answer. "No, it would not."  
  
"So we have to beat them to it," Anakin said.  
  
Before they were signaled back into the Council room, Anakin outlined the plan that had been growing in his mind since he had exited the Council room. If the Council did turn his request down, and they needed to get to Ben before the other Jedi delegation, they would need something to distract the Council's puppets. With some heavy arguing on both sides, they finally came to a decision just as they were called back to face the Council. Together, the Solo family came to the center of the room.  
  
One look at Corran and Kyp, and Anakin knew that his request had been thwarted by Senator Ller. Corran shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Anakin, you are new to the way things work in this Order, so I feel obligated to clarify something for you. In order for a request to be accepted, seventy percent of the Council must agree on it. Your request does not meet that amount."  
  
"I see," Anakin answered simply, trying hard not to lash out at the Council, who were only doing what they thought was best. He thought if Senator Ller only knew Ben as well as he did that there would be no question of the true intent of the boy's heart.  
  
Next to him, Jacen stiffened. "And what about Ben?"  
  
"The Council will compile a group to track down Apprentice Skywalker, and bring him back to the Temple, where he can continue his training under the direction of Master Anakin," Kyp said, although with obvious trepidation. He did not like this any more than the Solos.  
  
Senator Ller sat up in his seat. "Neither you, Master Anakin, nor any member of your family is to interfere with their progress in locating Apprentice Skywalker."  
  
"May the Force be with you," Kyp said, by way of breaking up the session without further awkwardness.  
  
As the Solos exited the Council room, each bowing in deference to the High Members, they split up, each knowing their part in the contingency plan to save Ben Skywalker.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Corran waited for most of the day before going to see Anakin Solo in his lone dormitory. He did not want it to look overly conspicuous, and was careful that he was not spotted by anyone who might report his presence to another member of the Council. Lightly, he rapped his knuckles against Anakin's door, hoping the young Jedi was in his room at this time of day. He was rewarded a minute later when the door hissed open and Anakin looked confusedly at him.  
  
"Corran, what's up?" he said, trying to sound casual, despite the fact that Corran could see from the scattered items on Anakin's bed that the younger Jedi was packing.  
  
With another quick glance around the corridor, Corran asked, "Can I come in? There's something we need to discuss."  
  
Suspicion colored Anakin's ice-blue eyes, but after a moment he opened the door further and let Corran in. As he suspected, Anakin was preparing to leave the Temple against the Council's orders, and Corran was relieved. He couldn't be angry with the way the Council had chosen, but he knew it was wrong, so he wanted to offer any assistance to Anakin that he could.  
  
"Don't mind the mess. I'm still trying to get everything organized here," Anakin said, lamely explaining away the piles of tunics and leggings covering his bed.  
  
"I know what you're doing Anakin," Corran announced without preamble. "I just don't quite understand why. There was something you were hiding from us in that Council room. Did it have anything to do with a vision Ben saw?"  
  
If it had been possible, Anakin's chin would have hit the floor. "You know that Ben is a seer?"  
  
Corran nodded. "Your uncle told me shortly after your return." When he saw the panic in Anakin's eyes he was quick to continue. "He swore me to secrecy, and I will keep my word as a Corellian. The Council will not find out about Ben's ability until you deem it so."  
  
The younger Jedi deflated in relief, and slumped onto his bed with evident exaggeration. "Since Linnal, Ben has been seeing visions of his older self. In them he has gone over to the Dark Side, and is ruling a mass of Yuuzhan Vong upon the top of the Temple. He left last night so that he could stop this vision from coming true, but if that does not work I'm afraid he'll go to extremes."  
  
"Which explains why you want to beat the Council's team. They may push him to those extremes if he doesn't see any other choice," Corran put the pieces together. He had not been on Bellalt when the Master had been struck down, but his son, Valin, had been. Valin had explained the events as best to his knowledge, and the aftermath had been no more heartbreaking. After a valiant attempt to save his father, Ben had passed out, both from a head injury and an excessive use of the Force, and was nearly unreachable for the next standard day. It was the first time that Valin had ever spoken of Ben without sounding derisive or derogatory, and Corran had been relieved that his son had finally seen Ben in a different light.  
  
"What can I do to help?" Corran asked. In his mind, Corran had never been able to repay the Master for his help in rescuing Mirax upon their first meeting so many years ago; if stopping Ben from being found by the Council group first was the pay back, he'd gladly offer it.  
  
Anakin shook his head, however. "I don't want to get you involved in this, Corran. It doesn't do much good for the stability of the Order if one of its High Council Members goes against the wishes of the Council."  
  
"They're not stable right now. I don't think anyone realized how much we depended on Luke's insight, Anakin. He could diffuse any disagreements within the Council so that we generally came out in a unanimous decision every time. Now that he's gone, we're like baby Calamarians on dry land," Corran explained. "This needs to be done."  
  
Slowly a smile crept onto Anakin's face. "Some things never change, do they Corran. I'm still reckless and you're still backing me up."  
  
"Not so reckless anymore, my friend," Corran countered with a return smile. "So what do you need of me?"  
  
"Well, Jaina was going to do her best to lead the Council astray, but if we had another person zipping around the galaxy in the opposite direction as I am, it would make my job a whole lot easier," Anakin explained. "What's Valin up to these days?"  
  
Corran caught on to Anakin's plan almost immediately. Although their coloring was very different, and facial features nothing alike, Valin and Ben were around the same height, easily dwarfed by Anakin's large frame. "He's been itching to get out of the Temple," Corran reported.  
  
"I think I might be able to help him with that," Anakin assured the Jedi Master. He grew solemn though. "As much as I know this has to be done, I still don't like going behind the High Council's back."  
  
"Give them time, Anakin. They need to find their footing just as much as you and Ben do," Corran said. "Just be grateful you don't have to deal with them on a daily basis," he joked.  
  
"Force forbid," Anakin said with an exaggerated flair.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
It was late in Corsucant's night cycle when Anakin crept out of his dormitory and toward the berthed [i]Millenium Falcon[/i]. He had selected his Dad's ship because he wouldn't have to go through any of the Order's people to get clearance for take off. His mother had recorded her voice into Threepio, something she had done during the Thrawn campaign when the insane Jedi Master C'boath was after her and her unborn children, so that he could play it for Coruscant's traffic controller. Han and Leia had argued strongly to come along, but Anakin had won over with the fact that the less missing Solos the better. It wouldn't take long for the High Council to notice that Anakin had gone missing, especially when Jacen went in to teach his class in the morning.  
  
Jaina had already gone out in her X-wing under the pretense that she had been called by Chief of State Tiv, which she had been thanks to a little communication with Chief Tiv. It was only a matter of time before the High Council figured out that Anakin had so deftly out-maneuvered them; perhaps he had been picking up a little of Ben's strategic mind, and Anakin hoped to find Ben and return in remarkable time.  
  
It wasn't but a few minutes out that Anakin realized he was being followed, although the mind of his pursuer was doing a good job of shielding him out. Anakin searched his surroundings. He'd rather deal with his pursuer now than have to worry about them tracking him in his attempt to find Ben. Spotting an alcove that in the darkness looked like nothing more than the rest of the wall, Anakin stashed himself into it without quickening his pace. It was heartbeats later that he heard the sound of approaching bootsteps, then they came to a halt as his pursuer looked around confusedly for him. He could only see a thin outline in the lightless corridor, and determined that the being was human.  
  
After a moment of deliberation, his pursuer started to move towards the alcove but passed it as Anakin held his breath. As soon as his pursuer passed the alcove completely, Anakin reached out and grabbed the being. Instantly his pursuer began to struggle and Anakin was surprised at the strength inside such a slight frame. The being was trying to throw Anakin off, but the Jedi Knight turned the force of his pursuer's attempt against the being and sent the slight frame flat on its back. Anakin was on his pursuer instantly, grabbing flailing arms and pinning them to the ground.  
  
"Don't you know you shouldn't try to surprise a Jedi?" Anakin hissed.  
  
The being stopped struggling. "Hello, Anakin," a soft ironic voice floated up to him, a voice that belonged to a petite girl with fire in her dark brown eyes.  
  
"Analsa, what are you doing?" he asked, hastening to get off of her at the same time as helping her off the Temple stone.  
  
He couldn't see the girl's face, but he imagined that it was screwed up in anger, if the tone of her voice was any indication. "I could ask you the same thing," she shot back. "Is it your custom to throw down anyone who you cross in the Temple?"  
  
"It is when they're sneaking up on me," Anakin answered with just as much fire. At times it seemed Analsa knew all the right buttons to push inside of him.  
  
"I wasn't sneaking up on you. I was trying to catch up to find out what in the galaxy you were doing," Analsa replied testily. "You haven't spoken to me since Bellalt, and now you're sneaking away in the middle of the night."  
  
Anakin tried to keep his patience in check. He hadn't spoken with Analsa, that was true. He felt he needed to gain some distance with the girl, considering that she could have been killed on Bellalt, and had hoped that another Knight would take up her training. Unfortunately, that had not happened yet. It had been a mistake to take upon so much of her training to begin with, of course she would become attached to a teacher who focused on her so intensely. He had also felt obligated to distance himself because he was now Ben's Master and needed to center his energies on training his young cousin. Still, he had missed Analsa, and was glad to finally get to speak with her.  
  
"Analsa, it wasn't anything personal, I've just been busy. But you should go back to your room. If anyone else were to catch you this late, the High Council would not be pleased," Anakin instructed. As much as he wished to speak with her and smooth out everything, he didn't have the time.  
  
In the shadow of the darkness he saw Analsa's arms cross over her chest. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on." He had seen this same stubbornness on Bellalt, when he had tried to get her to stay with the troop carrier after she had already stowed aboard. There had been no defense against it then, and there was no defense against it now. Analsa made him realize more and more than ever just exactly what his father had meant when he said women were the impossible gender.  
  
Sighing, he once again took his leave towards the Falcon, pulling Analsa along with him. "I'll tell you if you promise to go back to your room as soon as I finish."  
  
"I'm not a child, Anakin. You can't treat me as one," she snapped, throwing his arm off her elbow at the same time. Bellalt had proven that she was far from a child, her skills in the midst of battle and the way the Force directed her had impressed him. She was younger than him, in a fashion, and he did feel the need to protect her as he did Ben, but she was not a child as Ben was. At twenty-one she was more than able to take care of herself. In fact, there was something in her eyes, when Anakin could see them, that gave off a sense of haunting that didn't belong with the rest of the young woman, making her seem older than she really was.  
  
With the understanding that he would now have to take her along with him, Anakin started once again for his father's ship. "Ben has run away from the Temple. I'm going to retrieve him if I can."  
  
"Well, then, I'm going with you," Analsa insisted.  
  
Although Anakin had been keeping his distance, he had noted that Analsa had been even more observant of his cousin since Luke's death, despite the fact that Anakin had always gotten the impression that the young woman didn't care for his cousin. "I'd rather you didn't. You need to concentrate on your training."  
  
"You can teach me on the way," Analsa retorted with confidence, obviously having already planned out everything. "I learn the best from you anyhow."  
  
That buoyed Anakin's spirits, having not quite recovered from the fact that no one thought he could train Ben. Of course, his record wasn't exactly comforting at this point. "Alright, I'll allow it, under one condition."  
  
There was enough moonlight coming from one of the windows to let him see her smile, casting her beautiful face into a ghostly shadow. "Name it?"  
  
"You do exactly what I tell you when I tell you. Although this mission will not be dangerous, it could be for Ben," Anakin said, not a bit of humor in his voice. "I mean it, Analsa. If not, I'll sound the alarm and have half the Order on your hide."  
  
A hand shot out at him, and she said, "Deal."  
  
"Deal," Anakin reiterated, shaking the hand and catching a glimpse at his chrono in the process. "Now come on."  
  
Together they made it to the [i]Falcon[/i] without any problems, but what they found there caused Anakin to sigh in defeat. [i]Does everyone know what I'm up to?[/i] he asked the Force.  
  
"Cherrz, what are you doing here?" Anakin demanded, not caring to be diplomatic with the Yuuzhan Vong Jedi student. He and Analsa could pass as brother or sister, or if need be husband and wife, but he didn't know how often a Yuuzhan Vong traveled with Jedi around the galaxy. He didn't want to draw attention to him, especially if Ben was looking out for him, but he had a sinking feeling that he would now have a party of three rather than the solo mission he had planned on.  
  
"Master Horn told me to wander over here tonight," Cherrz said, confused by Anakin's antagonistic tone.  
  
[i]Blast it, Corran, what are you playing at?[/i] "Alright, everybody aboard." As Cherrz began to question, Anakin cut him off with a raised hand. "I'll explain everything on the [i]Falcon[/i]."  
  
"What about Ben?" Cherrz asked.  
  
"He's the reason we're taking off," Anakin answered, literally pushing the Yuuzhan Vong and Analsa up the ramp of the [i]Falcon[/i].  
  
Once up, Anakin spotted Threepio, who was slumped in the gaming table's bank of cushions, most likely switched off by Han when he had brought old 'Golden Rod' in after the programming to allow the protocol droid to sound like Leia. Reaching back to the neck switch, Anakin powered the droid on. Golden light came form the previously darkened eye sockets, and Threepio's head cocked upward at him with the jerky motions of mechanicals. "Master Anakin, how wonderful it is to see you fully functioning again."  
  
"Thanks, Threepio," Anakin said wryly. "Ready to become a famous Princess of Alderaan?"  
  
"Oh, yes, Master Anakin," Threepio chimed. Suddenly, his head cocked past Anakin and was it the young Jedi's imagination or did the light in those photoreceptors brighten as if in surprise as Threepio spotted Dorsca Cherrz? "Oh."  
  
"Don't worry, Threepio. He's on our side," Anakin assured the droid. Helping the protocol droid to his feet, he rushed them into the cockpit, where there was just enough seating for the three Jedi and the protocol droid. "Ben's trajectory is heading for the Rimma Trade Route, which is close to Naboo. I know he's been there before, so that will be the first stop," Anakin explained as he started the preflight sequence for the [i]Falcon[/i], making sure to do it in the new order Han had designated for security. If someone did it in the wrong order, Anakin knew from boyhood experience that the [i]Falcon[/i] would go into shut down and he'd be locked in for the better part of the night.  
  
Analsa stiffened beside him. "Naboo?"  
  
He suddenly remembered that was where Analsa had said she had been born, before her parents had immigrated to Bimmissari. "Yeah, is that a problem?"  
  
"No, no problem. Why would there be a problem?" And the tone of her voice told Anakin that there was.  
  
Still, he wasn't about to delve into her personal life, she was here as a favor to him, if in a weak sense, and he didn't want to be distracted by anything but finding Ben. There would be another time to discover Analsa's qualms with her home planet. "Strap in, everybody," he announced.  
  
The Falcon's engines whirred to life, and Anakin smiled at the sense of home it brought to his mind. "Threepio, you ready?"  
  
"Yes, Master Anakin," the droid piped in, this time sounding exactly like Anakin's mother.  
  
Switching the comm system over to the Temple traffic control, which was also for the rest of Coruscant, Anakin motioned Threepio forward. "Yes, this is Jedi Organa Solo, my husband has made some repairs that must be adjusted in flight, and we will be breaking atmosphere during that time."  
  
"Understood, Jedi Organa Solo, keep to your assigned flight path," the traffic controller ordered.  
  
Anakin quickly switched it off, not wanting to give the controller any time to reconsider and check orders with the Council. [i]This is where the fun begins[/i], one of his father's favorite sayings came to mind.  
  
"Coordinates set?" he questioned Analsa.  
  
"It's now or never."  
  
"Punch it."  
  
With a burst of pseudomotion, the Falcon leapt into hyperspace. 


	6. There's Something Familiar About this Pl...

Chapter 6: There's Something Familiar About this Place  
  
From space, Naboo looked like a globe filled with swirling molten blue and green metal frosted with the scattering of fluffy white condensation, a many faceted jewel that hung suspended in its velvet case. The planet had seen its share of troubles, having been blockaded some seventy years ago by the Trade Federation of the Old Republic, but it had now returned to being a planet of peace and beauty. Nubian architecture blended into the waterfall, spilling plateaus and the rolling green hills, representing the Nubian people's love for nature and its simple beauty. Everything bespoke of fluidity and continuity with life.  
  
Ben flew his X-wing over the Narthal Forest, catching a glimpse of lumbering Kaadu as he made his way to the capital city of Theed. His first and only trip to Naboo, he had only visited the undersea fortress of Otoh Gunga, and the lakeside palace that had been enshrined in honor of one Naboo's most beloved monarchs.  
  
Switching his com system over to the hailing frequencies of the Naboo Air Space Control, static filled his ears before refining to the sound of a tenor voice. "This is captain Frantra of the NASC, please identify."  
  
"This is Ben Skywalker of the Jedi Order." He may have left the Order, but there would be some time before the word could get out. "Requesting permission to land at capital Theed."  
  
It had yet to become public knowledge that Luke Skywalker had been killed in the battle for Bellalt, and Ben knew that Aunt Leia would be making that announcement soon, within the week she had said. But for now, Ben was grateful for the absence of sympathy, it only seemed to make him feel worse.  
  
Several minutes passed before the NASC officer came on speaker. "Theed welcomes you, Apprentice Skywalker, as does the Queen. She'd like an audience with you upon landing," the officer said. "You've been cleared for docking bay 1138. Transmitting flight path."  
  
"Flight path received. Thank Her Highness for her hospitality," Ben said, although he didn't quite feel like conversing with royalty. He did not plan on spending more than a day on Naboo - he anticipated that Anakin would figure out that he had come this way and that he wouldn't be too far behind him - and had hoped to spend more time with the Gungans.  
  
Following the flight path he'd been assigned, Ben took in his first glimpse of the capital city of Theed, and his breath stopped in his chest. It was more than he could have possibly imagined. Tall domed buildings were bunched together, looking very much like vine fruit, waterfalls pouring down from the spaces between them. But it was Theed Palace that had him hypnotized; it was actually a part of the plateau, a man-made appendage that meshed wonderfully with the emerald waving grass.  
  
Apparently, he had been given permission to land in the Palace's docking bay, and he brought the X-wing down as smooth as shimmer silk. Popping the hatch, he detached the ladder and set it to unfurl at the side of the X-wing. "You okay, Artoo?" Ben called, having not heard a whistle from the droid since they had entered Naboo airspace.  
  
The droid bleeped that he was fine but nothing more, and Ben shook his head in mild amusement. He hopped to the ground and took stock of the sleek fighters that were housed inside the palace, they were in the shape of a seraphed T. Silver chrome met the liquid yellow of the rest of the ship, giving the fighter a less than threatening look to it. The cockpit sat high on the T, with the end coming to a dagger-like point.  
  
Ben whistled in appreciation of the ships, and wondered why the New Republic hadn't contracted for the Nubian fighters.  
  
Concernedly, Artoo bleated at him. "No, Artoo, I'm not considering getting rid of the X-wing," Ben soothed the excitable droid. In some ways Artoo and Luke's X-wing had become more attached than Artoo and Threepio.  
  
Reaching out to the Force, he grasped Artoo in its invisible fingers, and lifted the cylindrical droid out of the X-wing's casing, bringing the droid's treaded feet down on the docking bay's concrete. Rolling at the first sign of stability, Artoo began to weave in between the fighters.  
  
"Trying to steal our ship design for the Jedi, Apprentice Skywalker?" an elderly gentleman with grizzled curly hair that poked out from the bottom of his captain's cap and skin the color of dark Ursh wood said as he approached Ben.  
  
"It would surely be worth the risk, but I'm afraid it's nothing more than my recalcitrant astromech droid," Ben answered. "And it's just Ben."  
  
"I'm Captain Fontera Suil of Her Majesty's security force," the man introduced himself. "Queen Pernillia was pleased to hear of your arrival."  
  
Ben cocked a ruddy brown eye brow. "Was Her Highness expecting a Jedi representative?" His father hadn't mentioned anything before his death, nor had the Council, although Ben was not privileged to all the requests that came from the galaxy.  
  
The captain shook his head. "She had not made a formal inquisition to the Jedi, but when she learned of your arrival she decided to bring up her concerns now."  
  
[i]Blast[/i], Ben cursed inside his head. He had come here hoping to escape from his visions, and yet he had inadvertently been directed by the Force to come to Naboo and hear what the Queen had for the Jedi. "It will be a pleasure to speak with Her Highness," Ben said, putting on his diplomatic tone that Aunt Leia had drilled into him since he had rejoined with his family after the Yuuzhan Vong war.  
  
"Your astromech droid will be fine here," Captain Fontera said as he led Ben out of the docking bay and through the tall marbled palace halls.  
  
Ben just hoped that Artoo didn't get into any trouble, the little cylindrical droid was known for plugging into stations he wasn't supposed to and he very well might steal the designs to the Nubian starfighter. Placing his hands behind his back, Ben studied the palace as he trailed behind Captain Fontera. More and more he was getting the feeling as though he had been here before, a sense of deja vu that he had only experienced a few times in his young life.  
  
Understanding came to him at the sight of a marbled statue of three men. One was extremely tall, built like a gundark, with long flowing hair, the next one standing at his right came to just above his shoulder and his hair was cut short and even, save for a braided tail that trailed down behind his right ear, and the last stood before and between the two, a young boy of no more then ten, slightly disheveled with a grin that came from ear to ear. Ben quickly tore his gaze from the youthful innocence in Anakin Skywalker's face, unable to forget that the boy's innocence had quickly enough turned to jilted anger, and then the Dark Side. A path that Ben was bound to follow.  
  
Instead, he paused to read the datareader that stood on a pedestal just before the large statue. 'The Heros of the Battle for Naboo,' it read, sending a chill through Ben's thinned body. Captain Fontera turned back, having noticed that Ben had paused, and joined him before the statue. He looked from Ben to Obi-Wan Kenobi and back again.  
  
"Do you know the men in this statue?" he asked.  
  
Ben turned to him surprised. "Don't you?"  
  
Fontera sighed. "We built this statue from a holo left in some of Queen Amidala's personal files, it actually came from her journal, and said simply that these three Jedi saved Naboo, and that she wished for them to always be remembered. Queen Pernillia ordered that their identities be found, but due to the Jedi purges we could never locate them."  
  
Ben pointed to the youthful Anakin. "This is Anakin Skywalker, my grandfather." Next he selected his mother's father. "The Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi," his finger trailed to the left of Kenobi. "And Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan's Jedi Master."  
  
The Nubian captain looked at Ben with some trepidation. "You mean to tell me that one of the heros of Naboo became Darth Vader?"  
  
"Does that make what he did any less special?" Ben countered, heatedly, for the first time caring how he would be remembered after he had passed away. Would they see the rescue of Bellalt as something tainted because of the darkness he would become? "If it hadn't been for Anakin Skywalker, the Empire might have well still been around today."  
  
Fontera considered this for a moment before continuing, "You're right. The Queen will be pleased to know the names of our beloved planet's heros." Fontera took one last double take between Obi-Wan and Ben and then proceeded to direct the young seer to his meeting with the Queen.  
  
Queen Pernillia was not as young as her last three predecessors, although just as beautiful. In her late forties, she had been elected eight years ago and was coming to the end of her two terms. Customary to Nubian royalty, her face was painted white with the red balancing marks painted on her cheeks and the scar of remembrance slashing her lower lip. She was dressed in a royal violet gown that made her look larger than her barely five foot frame, her auburn hair wove between a fan-like headdress that dripped jewels like dew off of freshly bloomed petals.  
  
Ben bowed before the elegant ruler, mindful that it did not look exaggerated or unfitting of one of her status, a skill learned from the Princess of Alderaan. "Greetings, Your Highness, I am Ben Skywalker." He purposefully left out his Jedi title; he had left the Order to save it, and could no longer claim that honorific.  
  
The Queen rose and came out from behind her desk, joining Ben. "We have heard about the Battle that took place on the planet Bellalt," Queen Pernillia said, her voice laced with compassion and Ben held his breath, waiting for the sympathy that he had come to grow accustomed to but never comfortable with. "We would like to offer any resources needed to help bring Bellalt back to its prime and aid any refugees that resulted from the battle."  
  
Inwardly, Ben sighed. He had feared that Aunt Leia had already made the announcement of his father's death, and soon enough every holo of him and his family would be plastered on every tri-D from Bespin to Dubrillion, as it had when his mother had passed into the Force. Such an event would make it very hard to keep the low profile he needed to keep the Jedi and Anakin from finding him.  
  
"Naboo is extremely generous. I will make contact with the Jedi Council and tell them of your offer," Ben said, not able to rationalize not making the call. As soon as he did, whatever team Anakin was leading would be on Naboo in no time flat. Ben should have guessed that the Queen would make such an endowment of Naboo's goods, the planet's Refugee Relief Group was well known across the galaxy, having taken many in during the Yuuzhan Vong war, and now even housing a large portion of Yuuzhan Vong.  
  
"We thank you for your help, Apprentice Skywalker," Queen Pernillia said. "Now may we ask why you have come to Naboo?"  
  
"In a previous visit, I became acquainted with the Gungan faction of Naboo. I made a promise that I would return one day," Ben answered truthfully, leaving out the part where he felt compelled to come here. His actual destination was only a parsec away from Naboo, Ben figuring that the best place to hide was the closest to where your pursuers expected you to go.  
  
"We'd like you present when we contact the Temple, but after that I will inform the Boss of your arrival," the Queen informed him, gesturing Ben to follow.  
  
"I'm at your disposal, Your Highness," Ben assured her.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Luke watched as his son trailed behind the Queen of Naboo, he too wondering at the familiar beauty of the world around him. He turned to Obi-Wan, who stood next to him, smiling at the scene playing before them. "What is the mystery behind Naboo?" Luke asked.  
  
Obi-Wan's features were nostalgic. "It was where we first met your mother. Queen Amidala of the Naboo, she was young to be elected, but there were none who could out-debate Padme Amidala. Qui-Gon and I were sent to negotiate with the Trade Federation, but Palpatine had already sunk his hooks into the organization. They tried to kill us and then invaded Naboo. When we escaped with your mother, our ship had been damaged and we landed on Tatooine to make repairs."  
  
"Where you found my father?" Luke guessed.  
  
"Actually, it was Qui-Gon who found Anakin, and at first bid for his training," Obi-Wan explained, bittersweet memories rising to the surface. "I often wondered if things would have gone differently if he had survived the Battle of Naboo and trained Anakin."  
  
Luke understood Obi-Wan's doubts, having lost several of his earlier apprentices. "If there is one thing I've learned, Obi-Wan, it's that you can't mold an apprentice unless they want to fit into the mold." He gave Obi-Wan a sly smile. "I doubt my father made it easy on you." Memories of his own brief training floated to the surface. "Nor did I."  
  
Obi-Wan gave him an understanding look. "There was so much I could see of Anakin in you, and it both relieved and frightened me. The Skywalkers have a deep-seeded desire to help so desperately that you often leap without looking to what is below."  
  
"Is that what's happening with Ben now?" Luke asked, but before Obi-Wan answered he continued with a shake of his head. "I can't imagine Ben becoming what he has foreseen."  
  
"Your son has been given a great gift but one that holds so much sorrow in it," Obi-Wan said.  
  
"Will all of his visions come to fruition?" Luke asked, searching his first mentor's face for any signs of hesitation.  
  
Obi-Wan shook his head. "The Force has not revealed that much to me, though I have sought for it since he was born."  
  
"You were there then?" Luke asked.  
  
"As was your father," Obi-Wan answered. "Visions can be misleading, and hard to interpret. What Ben sees will most likely come to pass, but whether as he perceives it is still in question."  
  
Luke's hands balled into fists at his sides. "I wish I could go to him."  
  
"In time, Luke. He must learn to stand alone because you will not always be there," Obi-Wan said in an attempt to sooth his young friend. "Separation is something we must all deal with."  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Ben stood behind and slightly to the right of Queen Pernillia as they waited for the High Council to convene and receive them. The communications officer hadn't said anything, but Ben could tell that he had been surprised to see him, normally runaways didn't announce their presence so readily to the ones they were hiding from. Just seeing the other Jedi brought all the emotions back. His visions hadn't stopped, if anything they were increasing day by day, and he longed for a night of unfettered sleep.  
  
As the screen before them began to waver and form into the image of the Council, Ben noticed that even Nubian communications systems were liquid smooth, calming. He realized that part of him had come here hoping to find the same resolution that he had had in his previous visit, even though the purposes were in complete contrast to one another. Before, he had come to Naboo based on a vision he had seen of the lake palace, there his duty as a Jedi had been reaffirmed, and the ache of his mother's passing easier to withstand, now he had come to find peace in his decision to leave the Order.  
  
While in transit to Naboo, Ben had gone into a deep meditation, and visions had assaulted him the entire time, even at this moment, in broad daylight he could feel them poking at his mind's eye and was grateful that he knew how to stop them in his conscious state.  
  
Although the Queen of Naboo stood before them in all her majesty, every member of the High Council focused their attention on Ben, searching his face, some in disdain, others in worry, all wanting him to come back to where they thought he belonged. If only they knew what lay ahead of him.  
  
Kyp stood from his chair and bowed before the Queen. "Your Majesty, we thank you for convincing Ben Skywalker to contact us."  
  
Ben jerked to look at Queen Pernillia. Had her request been some kind of ploy instigated by the Temple to get him in contact so that they might convince him of his error? Fight or flight stimulus thrummed in Ben, nearly impossible to crush. Only years of training kept him stolid on his face and unwavering before the Council.  
  
Queen Pernillia frowned at Master Durron, the red beauty marks on her face turning downwards and elongating to near ovals. "I'm not sure I understand you, Master Jedi. Ben Skywalker is here at my request to inform you of the aid we wish to give to the refugees on the planet Bellalt. He has expressed no desire to contact you other than to relay my wishes."  
  
"Then you are not aware that Apprentice Skywalker..." Member Ller began to say coming into the holo in front of Master Durron.  
  
Master Horn stood. "Of course, we would accept any aid that Naboo is willing to offer, and would like to send a group of Jedi down to assist you."  
  
Ben was relieved both that the Queen had not betrayed him and that his father's old friend had stopped Member Ller from revealing that he had left the Order without so much as a word to the Council. Queen Pernillia came to scrutinize him, but Ben kept his face as stolid as a protocol droid's, refusing to reveal anything that might show that he was uncomfortable with the situation. The Council might wish to play a game to get him back, but he would not participate.  
  
"That would be most appreciated, Master Jedi. Is there any word of relocating refugees?" she asked, again her compassion evident.  
  
"Bellalt is an industrious city, Your Highness. Although the inhabitants are cramped, they wish to stay on their current world for the time being," Master Horn answered.  
  
"If that were to change, Naboo has ample space for them," Queen Pernillia offered.  
  
The members of the High Council all inclined their head in thanks to the sovereign of Naboo. Master Durron addressed her next. "Your Highness, the High Council would be most appreciative if you were to allow Apprentice Skywalker to stay within the palace until our team of Jedi arrive."  
  
Obviously, Master Durron wasn't on his side as Master Horn. It made sense of course, with his father's absence, Master Durron would be a candidate to take head of the Council, and he would not want to aggravate either the Jedi or non-Jedi side of the High Council until the choice was given.  
  
Ben stepped forward for the first time. He said, "That won't be necessary, Your Highness. It is not the custom for the Jedi to become a burden to those they serve. The High Council often is protective of me in my father's absence."  
  
Queen Pernillia was more than slightly ill at ease with the subtle war that the High Council and Ben were waging. The tension was a palpable essence, even with the High Council nearly on the other side of the galaxy, and Ben felt sorry that he had inadvertently involved her in his quest.  
  
"Is not Master Skywlker in charge of the boy's whereabouts?" Queen Pernillia finally ventured.  
  
The High Council exchanged worried glances. They could easily inform the Queen that Luke Skywalker had perished on Bellalt, showing that they had obvious reasons for their concern, but then they would be going against the wishes of Ben and the rest of the family. They had wanted time to mourn their loss before the rest of the galaxy learned of it.  
  
"Master Skywalker iz not in Temple," Master Sabatyne informed the Queen without revealing the full truth. "These onez only wizsh to look out for his szons welfare."  
  
"He is hardly a child, Master Jedi," the Queen countered unexpectedly. Did she sense that there was more here than the Council's natural concern for one of its own? "And I see no reason to hold the boy."  
  
Ben found it hard not to feel resentful towards the High Council. He knew that they only sought to keep him on the light side, and wished to continue the training that he had begun in his infancy. Yet, they were trying to manipulate the Queen of Naboo into keeping him in a veritable prison. Resentment continued to build at him as he thought of how differently his father would have dealt with this situation. Squeezing his eyes to keep tears from pooling within the grey shot eyes, Ben centered on the Force, its energies cooling the burning winds within him.  
  
Master Horn gave each of the eleven other High Council Members a pointed glare, silencing them from impinging on the Queen of Naboo any further. "We will be in contact, Your Highness. Please let us know if there is anything more we can do in Naboo's aid for Bellalt."  
  
Queen Pernillia bowed her head, the jewels and beads of her headdress clattering together like the sound of Nubian waterfalls. Ben focused on the calming timbre, letting it wash over his tired and drained mind, soothing the mental wounds that had been reopened over and over again with each vision. Surely in this halcyon world he could find the light of spirit that he was reaching for.  
  
The High Council rippled out of existence, water dropped into a mirror lake, and the viewing screen turned an opaque ghostly color. Portent was echoing at Ben no matter where he turned; having always trusted his feelings, he felt betrayed by himself.  
  
"Your father isn't simply out of the Temple, is he?" Queen Pernillia asked, her slim aged hands coming up to lift the headdress from her head, pulling the strands of auburn hair through the intricate weaving, leaving them to bounce vigorously against her padded shoulder. The symbolism was not missed by Ben. By taking off her hair mantle, she was taking off the office which it evidenced.  
  
Ben winced, was he so easily read? "No, he is not."  
  
She sat in the contour-conforming chair, easing her strained back, and Ben saw that she was a woman wearied by the responsibility she was called to bear. "What happened?"  
  
"He was killed during the attack on Bellalt," Ben answered, unable to lie in the face of such a woman, despite that she would never guess that the slate grey to his eyes was an indicator of his emotions.  
  
"When you entered the throne room, I knew you had come here seeking something, now I understand that you just wish for solitude," the Queen said softly, somehow she was more real than she had been a moment ago, a person who could so readily comprehend the weight he felt in his very marrow.  
  
"Naboo should be called the planet of light," Ben said, steering the conversation away from himself. "You cannot help but feel edified when you breathe in the smell of sweet flowers, or hear the rush of singing waterfalls. Life teems on this planet, Your Highness. I only seek to feel that."  
  
The Queen nodded, her hazel eyes watching him with empathy. "And I have put you in the position to leave that which you seek."  
  
"I could have refused you," Ben said, wondering how she knew that he would be leaving as soon as he was able.  
  
"You could have," the Queen agreed. "But you didn't. Why?"  
  
It was a question he had been asking himself since he had arrived. The Queen could have called to the Senate and requested a communication with the High Council with ease, with the requisite time intervals between. Ben had known that her gracious offer would have taken months instead of the weeks it would now to get to the indigents of Bellalt.  
  
"Duty is something I do not shuck off lightly," Ben answered enigmatically.  
  
"It is a heavy burden to bear, young Skywalker," the Queen reminded. "Why should one so young as you be called to do so?"  
  
Ben's eyes widened in incredulity. "The last four queens of Naboo have been my age or younger, strange that you would ask such a question of youth burdened with responsibility."  
  
This caused the mature Queen to laugh and Ben found it infectious enough to smile. "You know much of our history, young Skywalker, yet I know very little about the Jedi."  
  
"We are what we appear, Your Highness," Ben answered. "Servants of the Force."  
  
At this, a questioning eyebrow hiked on the Queen's smooth forehead. "Oh, I think you are much more than that, young Skywalker."  
  
Her cryptic response echoed in Ben's mind. What did she mean by it? "If Your Highness says so."  
  
"Do not worry. I will not give the High Council any information about your departure," the Queen assured him. Her thin eyebrows turned down over her hazel green eyes as she studied him. "I believe you are on a quest, young Skywalker, more than the gentle feel of life you can receive on Naboo."  
  
"Are you Force-sensitive, Highness?" Ben asked, again touched by how she seemed to read his innermost thoughts.  
  
"I'm sensitive to life, my young friend. My son is about your age, perhaps one day you can stay long enough to meet him." The Queen paused, searching out and locking his eyes to hers. "I hope you find what you're looking for."  
  
Ben bowed, understanding this as her permission to go. "Thank you, Your Highness. You've helped me in ways you cannot imagine." He turned to leave her, suddenly remembering that Artoo was trundling his way through the palace's docking bay.  
  
"Ben," the Queen stopped him and he swung around, it was the first time she had addressed him by his first name. "Your father was a great man, the galaxy will miss him sorely, but don't let their perceptions make you who you are." She brought her bejeweled hand to where her heart thumped life- giving. "The truth is in here."  
  
Ben left the Queen's communication room, her last words resonating in his mind that already held so much static from blocking the visions that sought him. Perception and truth, the two blended together so often that Ben forgot that their meanings were separate. Perception was based on a flawed quality, a being whose thoughts, feelings, and actions could have the purest of intentions and yet could hold the least amount of truth. Hadn't his grandfather quoted to his father that truth depended greatly from one's own point of view? Many perceived him as undeserving of his heritage, others expecting more of him than his parents had been. He, himself, perceived his life to be ruined due to the visions that wracked his mind.  
  
These thoughts swirled inside of him up until he came to the palace docking bay, where his father's X-wing was being refueled. Ben looked up into the astromech droid socket, expecting to see Artoo's domed head crest over the hull of the ship and finding only empty air instead.  
  
"Have you seen my Artoo unit?" he asked the bay deck officer with hose in hand fueling his X-wing. Little did they know that the fuel was unnecessary.  
  
The deck officer siphoned off the fueling pump, unlatching it from the X- wing before answering Ben. "I'm sorry, Apprentice Skywalker but we lost him on our visual feed. We thought that he was with you."  
  
Muttering curses in his head that would have made his father blanch and have a stern talk with Uncle Han about speaking in front of his son in such a way, Ben thanked the deck officer and returned back into the corridors of the palace. The meddlesome droid was keeping him here, again getting in the way of Ben's plans to keep out of sight.  
  
Uncouthly, he jogged down the palace hallways, using the Force to enhance his eyesight so that he might spot the recalcitrant droid early on. It reminded Ben of how his father had eventually learned who Obi-Wan Kenobi was. Artoo had a bad habit of disappearing on his own, a habit Ben did not realize he had taken upon himself, and it more often than not landed them in trouble. 


	7. I Shouldn't Have Done That

Chapter 7: I Shouldn't Have Done That.  
  
As a Sith apprentice, it had been drilled into Sarlana to wait for the optimal opportunity to act, to move in shadow until light was your ally, but the time in hyperspace on board the famous but much age-abused Millennium Falcon challenged those lessons, that had been drilled into her since her youth. Youthful exuberance will get you killed, Lord Nefarion had told her often enough that he would have despaired of her, if Lord Nefarion despaired. Days, months, one time a whole standard year, she had stayed on her Master's flagship studying under his and Tranx's tutelage, and trapped was never a word she had associated with those times. Now, with Anakin and Dorsca Cherrz, it seemed more like a terrible cantina joke then actuality.  
  
[i]A Jedi, a Sith, and a Yuuzhan Vong are on a ship together, which one will be the first to die?[/i] Sarlana thought sardonically.  
  
Every time Sarlana played it out, it seemed to her that the Sith would always remain standing. The Yuuzhan Vong would attack first most likely, either falling under the Jedi's need for self-preservation or striking the necessary blow, then the Sith would turn on the one left standing, using tactics that neither could repel. The Sith did whatever necessary to continue its survival, unlike the Jedi who fought only to preserve the life of all, and the Yuuzhan Vong who sought death as a reward. Except the Separatist Yuuzhan Vong no longer carried the seeded belief that death was the only answer, their time spent amongst the other beings of the galaxy had softened them. Although they did not fear death, as many of the species of the galaxy did, they no longer sought after it.  
  
Nor was Anakin any Jedi. The battle on Bellalt had proven that, the quick and fluid motions of his lightsaber, how his concentration had never wavered from the battle and yet he had been able to knock her out of the way of a death kill blaster bolt. He was powerful in his own right, coming close to the controlled power of his cousin, Ben Skywalker.  
  
Perhaps it wasn't the close quarters that made Sarlana itch in her skin, but who she was enclosed with, two beings that acted as differently than her preconceived notions of them told her they should as possible. The Jedi would tell her that first impressions could be deceiving, Nefarion that she should not have jumped to conclusions, but irritation ran through Sarlana so deeply that she wished to scream.  
  
Of course, that would be deemed as odd from a Jedi student who had pressed herself on a mission that Anakin hadn't wanted to take her along on. Instead, she marched into the cockpit, hoping to be alone amongst the streaking starlines of hyperspace. Unfortunately, even that hope was stolen from her, as she spotted Anakin in the pilot's seat.  
  
"We'll reach Naboo by tomorrow morning," Anakin said upon her arrival inside the Falcon's cockpit, as if he had sensed her strained mood, something even a Sith couldn't hide.  
  
She gave him a saccharine smile. "Such observation skills," she replied flippantly. She noted that he was only half-listening, his attention and focus drifting to his right hand, which she had seen him stare at often enough during the trip to Naboo. Struggling for a way to broach the subject, Sarlana was surprised when he answered her unspoken question.  
  
"I struck him," he said, bringing the hand up to his face as if it was the first time he had ever seen the appendage, and found it vastly fascinating.  
  
Screwing up her pretty features into a frown, Sarlana asked, "Who? Who did you strike?" How could a simple thing as that affect a man who had killed before?  
  
"Ben," Anakin said, pain permeating the simple name that held so much potential. "He was upset, and I hit him. I can still feel the impact of his skin, see my red palm print on his cheek."  
  
"Surely you have hit him before?" Sarlana said, incredulous. She had been waiting for the Jedi to display the techniques of teaching that she had been exposed to since she was very young. Pain could be a great lesson, it taught you never to make a mistake twice and to never counter your Master. Sarlana had totally missed the fact that it was getting over the pain that held the greatest lesson.  
  
If Anakin found her questions disturbing, he was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he did not speak of it. "You can get pretty banged up in training, but never have I hit him, or anyone, in anger. How will he ever trust me? How can I continue to train him?"  
  
Sarlana wondered at the Jedi. Numerous times she had been struck by her Master, and it had been no little slap across the cheek. No, Lord Nefarion's physical punishment came in the form of draining electric blue lightning that sucked all the much-needed chemicals from her body, and left her feeling ill for weeks afterwards, her vision blurred for days. Never had Nefarion shown the regret she saw flickering in Anakin's ice blue eyes.  
  
Sarlana had always taken her punishments as part of her training, had never shirked or backed away from the tense electric pulse that her Master could emit so freely. The many times he had used it on her as an example of his power, she had accepted and withstood with every ounce of loyalty she had for the man.  
  
Except now that loyalty was beginning to crack, like a dam that had been tried by a sweeping storm, first it had started as a veined split that had snaked along the width of it. Water pressure had built, even spilling in the tiny cracks, until she wondered if her loyalty had crumbled all together. It was only the indoctrination of her youth that kept her tethered to the man who had raised her, the man who had literally ruined her.  
  
The Dark Side was addictive, just as addictive as glitterstim or any other spice you could harvest off of Kessel, and Sarlana was an addict who was catching a glimpse of a way out and yet holding to old habits. And it was the dependence on that power that kept Sarlana by the side of her Lord and Master.  
  
In truth, Sarlana had never believed in the Light Side, had thought of it as some fictional story that Lord Nefarion had concocted to keep her in his grasp; it wasn't until her time spent with the Jedi, namely Anakin, that had shown her that it was a truth, that the Force did glimmer in a different way, unreachable in a sense, in another totally tangible.  
  
Drawing herself out of the strange workings of her mind, the doubts that she had never entertained before, the feelings that sprung inside her at the sight of Anakin Solo, she shrugged her shoulders. "Ben wouldn't hold a grudge against you."  
  
"No, he would forgive me. He already has, but forgiveness is not trust," Anakin countered her. "He has just lost his father, he says one thing in the rage of his emotions and I lash out, because I couldn't handle it."  
  
"You loved him too," Sarlana offered, unable to take the pain inside his eyes. It was so wrong, countering her indoctrination, but she wanted to relieve that pain.  
  
Anakin's eyes grew misty, frosted ice, giving Sarlana the impression that his mind was not in the moment, some place and time that she could not go to. "There will never be another Luke Skywalker," he whispered softly.  
  
It was the humble awe in his timbre that shook her, that rattled the dam of the Dark Side all the more, nicking at the tether that held her bound to her Master. Whenever she thought of her Master, it instilled fear, but also a desire to go beyond what he had achieved, the desire to replace rather than to emulate. Yet she could imagine Skywalker wanting his proteges to go beyond him, to take the Force and the light side one step further, where Nefarion would rather squash her attempts, make her remember that she needed him and his guidance.  
  
Abruptly, Anakin jerked, the images of yesterday shattered in the reality of today, the trance breaking. He looked up at her, slightly chagrined by his actions. "I'm sorry, Analsa, I shouldn't have placed this all upon you."  
  
"We all mourn in our own way," Sarlana answered, her own past flitting to the top of her mind. The love she had born for Padami and the anger she felt at the death of her caretaker. Ben Skywalker was no different, she realized with an alacrity that alarmed her with its significance. She had lost the one woman who had been a mother to her, and Ben had lost his father, each had reacted in their own way. Sarlana had sought out vengeance to rid her of the ache that had filled the emptiness; Ben had sought refuge.  
  
After swearing her to secrecy, Anakin had revealed Ben's capability as a seer, the reason the boy had run from the tentative home he had at the Temple. It had pleased Lord Nefarion no end that Ben Skywalker would join him and that the boy was bound by his own vision, when Sarlana had made her report aboard the Falcon. It had been difficult to make contact with her Master, seeing as he now ruled the Devotee Yuuzhan Vong world of Linnal, gaining more and more power through the suspicious beliefs of the extragalactic travelers, while avoiding the chance that Anakin or Dorsca Cherrz would interrupt her.  
  
Every report made Sarlana colder and colder; her Master's glee at his triumphs were far worse than the rage of his failures. Against her better judgment, Sarlana found herself feeling sorry for Ben Skywalker and the living Eol Sha that Lord Nefarion would put him through. Sarlana knew that it would not just extend to the misery that her training had encompassed, but far beyond that.  
  
"Mourn yes, dwell no," Anakin said, and he stiffened in the pilot's chair resolutely. "The best I can do for Uncle Luke's memory is to save his son."  
  
"But what about Ben's visions, they cannot be changed," Sarlana argued. As powerful as Ben was in the Force she could believe that what the energy field showed him was all but engraved in stone.  
  
Anakin frowned at her. "Many thought that I was dead, that it was impossible that I could be alive. Everyone had felt my death, from my mother to Jedi that I knew only in passing." There was enough fire in his ice-blue eyes to melt them. "I do not believe in the impossible."  
  
The way he spoke of his death, there was a note in the deep voice that informed her that the youngest Solo wished he had taken that path, instead of the fifteen year time jump he had woken up to. Sarlana had wondered how Solo had been recovered, now she understood that Ben had been guided by a vision to find his cousin, that the Force still had a purpose for Anakin Solo just as it had had for his grandfather.  
  
Was it possible that Anakin could change Ben's future, could keep the boy on the light side of the Force? Lord Nefarion certainly thought of him as a threat to their meticulous planning, the reason he had left Ben Skywalker on Bellalt, and why the Sith Lord had ordered his apprentice to keep close to the newly Knighted Jedi. Power certainly thrummed through the man, strange and alien as the Yuuzhan Vong themselves, yet as familiar as her own Force-signature.  
  
She analyzed the look in his eyes, that glimmer of humble ability that held her transfixed for a long moment. "I don't believe you do," she said.  
  
Their eyes stayed locked together, more magnetic in nature then polar ends, then abruptly they turned away together, studying the nearby consoles as though alarms had sounded on them instead of the quiet bleeping that echoed in the now very silent cockpit.  
  
Clearing his throat, Anakin stood from the pilot's chair and offered a hand to her. "We can't neglect your training. The High Council is already going to use their lightsabers to flay my hide, I don't want to make it worse by obstructing the training of the Temple's newest students."  
  
Sarlana took the proffered hand reluctantly, Anakin's fingers warm against her skin. Did she feel a heat rise to her own cheeks? It made her want to snatch it away from his grasp but instead she stilled the reflex and waited for him to release it first, which he did.  
  
"Domain Cherrz is sleeping," Anakin said, still much more apt at sensing the Yuuzhan Vong then she was. "But I wanted to start you on some lightsaber exercises."  
  
Sarlana shook her head. "I still don't understand how you can discern such things from an alien mind." Her training had not amounted to miniscule differences in different species. They either obeyed or they were destroyed.  
  
"The oombassl made them a part of me, and I a part of them. Cherrz can sense me much better then he can Ben, it is an understanding of the different languages that the Force can speak," Anakin said, donning his teacher tone that Sarlana had grown accustomed to. She did not notice how the deep tenor of his voice soothed her, how it created different reflections in the Force inside of her. "It is easier to note the difference when you can speak both." He grabbed her hand again, and she was surprised by the gentleness of it. "Let me show you."  
  
Instinctively, Sarlana threw up the mental shields that might let him into her little secret, forcefully leaving the rest of her mind open to his gentle and tingling mind touch. Anakin's presence was like the streaming of warm water, unlike the cold ice that stabbed at her mind when Nefarion entered. Both could expose her, leaving her practically naked in front of them, if not for her shields. Nefarion tore down the shields; Anakin let them alone. She felt the warmth of him bat against those mental barricades, stopping short as Anakin recognized what they were.  
  
"Relax," he told her, but to relax would leave her open. She feigned the gesture through her shoulders, letting them dip enough to be reminiscent of apathy. His presence extended to the sleeping Yuuzhan Vong, and she traced alongside it as she had so many times in the last few weeks, that alien familiarity nagging at her once again.  
  
The connection to Cherrz was quick, but through Anakin she could tell the difference between the waking Vong and the mind vibration of the sleeping Cherrz. So as not to disturb the Yuuzhan Vong, Sarlana felt Anakin disengage from the touch quickly, although she could not imagine his feather-light presence disturbing a sorely trained mind.  
  
She opened dark eyes that she hadn't realized she had closed, and yearned for the touch of his hand back on hers. Stop it. He is a Jedi, your enemy. Nothing more then that, she ordered to herself.  
  
The gaming area was the only space large enough on the Millennium Falcon that could afford the large arcs of a lightsaber blade. Anakin withdrew two lightsabers from an alcove. Sarlana recognized them as the training ones the younger students used, the Falcon having been used often enough as a practicing ground for young Jedi hopefuls, namely the Solo children. She took the pommel that Anakin handed out to her, and ignited it without any of the trepidation she had seen in the other students when they first held the choice weapon of the Jedi.  
  
Green light slinked out of the pommel, solidifying to a point nearly a meter out from the actuator disk, humming softly with the focused energy. Anakin was leaning against a bulkhead watching her, gauging her reaction to the blade and to what it could do, his ice-chipped eyes intense on her.  
  
"You're not afraid," he commented shortly.  
  
Sarlana froze on the inside. Under her Master's guidance, she had often felt awkward with a number of the exercises he had put her through, but never once had the lightsaber felt wrong in her hands. "Is that good or bad?" she asked, twirling the blade in the air so that it hummed resonating energy.  
  
"What do you think?" Anakin asked.  
  
He was testing her, snooping out the tendencies of her mind. Sarlana could recognize it, even if she was at a loss to answer his question. The Jedi, she had come to understand, taught in riddles, lessons that only made sense if you could discern the meaning behind them. Nefarion told her how to think, the Jedi wanted her to discover her own thoughts.  
  
She swung the blade again, the smell of ozone wafting to her nose. "It feels natural," she ventured.  
  
"That's good," he said pulling away from the bulkhead. "There are some who pick up a lightsaber and fear it, others who become entranced by its energy and what it can do. Those people can be dangerous if they do not learn to overcome these inhibitions. The lightsaber should be an extension of you." It was a flicker of an eyelash, and Anakin's lightsaber was out, ignited and right under her chin.  
  
Sarlana's dark eyes came to focus on the condensed green energy, heat radiated from the blade warmed her exposed chin and neck, but she did not flinch. Instead, she brought her own blade up to bat his away, retarding the movement enough to show that she was indeed a novice, if not in truth.  
  
He rolled the blade in his hand, bringing it up in front of him, displaying classic guard position. Sarlana came to mimic him, finding that the guard position did not mesh well with her usual aggressive style, and did not have to feign the awkwardness to make her look new to a lightsaber.  
  
"Bring in your elbows a little bit," he instructed her.  
  
She obeyed, and felt her grip on the lightsaber quicken, and with that a thrill for battle tingled up her spine. He came at her quickly, but not with the speed she had seen him use during the Battle of Bellalt. With forced sluggishness, she brought her blade up to meet his, blocking it and then spinning off of it to come at him at a different angle. He rolled under her blade, deftly dodging it with minimal effort.  
  
He smiled at her. "You've had weapons training." She bobbed her head in a quick yes. "You're full of surprises," he commented before advancing on her again.  
  
The Falcon wasn't extremely large, leaving the two combatants to battle in the enclosed area of a cargo ship. For Anakin it posed a problem, his tall- built form hindered from the grand sweeping movements she had witnessed from him before. Sarlana had the advantage, being smaller and more maneuverable, and she pressed at every chance she got.  
  
Soon they were each so deep into the Force that they moved in perfect syncopation. Sweat made the cloth of her shipsuit cling to her skin irritably. Sarlana put it out of her head, her focus riveted to the way Anakin moved, the tensing of his muscle for clues to where he would strike next, the placement of his hips. She could read him so easily inside of their Force-produced bubble, and she had no doubt that he could read her.  
  
Anakin's green blade sliced at her neck and she parried it, felt the weight of him lean into his blade in hopes of overpowering her. Eternity passed, and they remained in the position, Anakin continuing to add the bulk of his muscle to his saber. Sarlana was breathing hard from the exercise, and she inhaled the scent of him. He smelled of the pollen of the integrated flora of two galaxies, the heat of Coruscant's primary and his own body temperature, achingly familiar, startlingly foreign.  
  
Frightened by her observations, she struggled to end the confrontation. Raising her saber, she brought Anakin's with her, pointing the two blades towards the ceiling and wiring of the Millennium Falcon, hoping that he would disengage. He didn't; instead, he took a step forward closer to her to balance the rising blades, bending them over her head. His proximity to her was alarming and... intoxicating. His face and full lips in clear view of her mind-muddled eyes.  
  
That's when the Force betrayed her. Without thinking, conscious control gone from her, Sarlana's feet came on tip-toes, levering her closer to Anakin's face, bringing her lips to meet his in crushing urgency. It was all too natural for the moment that he returned her kiss avidly, claiming her lips with his, their lightsabers intersected above them. Her blood thrummed in her ear, pounding so loudly that it was the only thing she could hear, his lips on hers the only thing she could feel.  
  
Abruptly, Anakin staggered away, his ice-chipped eyes confused. "I can't," he muttered.  
  
It was several breaths before Sarlana could reclaim control over herself, this time heat rising out of her anger. "Can't what?" she asked caustically.  
  
"I just can't. I'm sorry, Analsa," he said in return, retreating back towards the cockpit.  
  
Sarlana watched him go, wondering if it were possible for a Sith to love a Jedi... if it were possible for a Sith to love at all.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
[i]Are you trying to break all barriers of trust?[/i] Anakin asked himself as he slumped back into the pilot's chair, the hand that he had used to slap Ben tensing before he brought it to his lips. It was true that Analsa had instigated the kiss, but Anakin had been all too willing to return it.  
  
Not so long ago he had kissed a married Tahiri, bound to his brother with their child still on the way, and had felt that all his heart belonged to her. The shattering of the illusion he had of the grown-up Tahiri had not helped the way he had felt about the girl. The effervescent girl, who had spoken too fast with an almost nervous zest for life. That girl was gone, in her place stood a woman self-assured, with a firm connection to the Force and to who she was.  
  
Anakin had hoped that he and Tahiri would find themselves together, that they would grow in the Force hand in hand. Then Myrkr had happened, the ghastly wound in his side that Anakin had just been able to hold at bay long enough to make the final sacrifice for his fellow Jedi, his siblings, and Tahiri. A plea to his brother to take their sister, a promise to give Tahiri one last kiss, hoping that his brother and Tahiri could find the joy Anakin had so wanted for himself.  
  
Now that he was among the living, the sacrifice was more than he could take. How was he to know that his dying wish would become his living nightmare?  
  
Was that why he had kissed Analsa, to let her push away the pain he still felt at the absence of the Tahiri he had known, or was there an actual feeling for the young woman? Analsa was unlike anyone he had ever met. There was a mystery to her that he couldn't identify readily. She had come to the Temple with such an air of confidence and excitement to learn the ways of the Jedi that Anakin had liked her almost on sight. Analsa reminded him of his own first steps towards becoming a Jedi, showing the anger he had displayed when the training had become frustrating.  
  
When the High Council had asked him to start training her to sense the Yuuzhan Vong, he had gone in with trepidation, having himself only been an apprentice not so long ago. However, Analsa had proven to be an apt pupil, advancing far in other aspects of the Force, if not reaching the ability to sense the extragalactic travelers until the battle of Bellalt.  
  
Tahiri was married to Anakin's brother, was carrying Jacen's child, and still Anakin felt that the kiss with Analsa betrayed her. Had Tahiri felt the same thing when she had first kissed Jacen, or had enough time elapsed that Anakin's memory wasn't the foremost thing on her mind? It hurt to think in such abstracts, the thought of Tahiri not remembering him, but he could not pull his mind away from them.  
  
Then there was Ben.  
  
Anakin couldn't brush off his actions and what the consequences to them might be. He had defied the Council to rescue Ben, but would Ben want to be rescued by him? Did Ben need rescuing? Anakin had just explained to Analsa that he did not believe in the impossible, but Ben seemed so sure of his own self-ruin.  
  
The Dark Side. Anakin had never touched it, had never known the negative energy that could thrum through you, but in his youth he had feared the portent of evil that came with his first name. The legacy of another Anakin, who held the Skywalker ability in the Force. Ben, he knew, felt that he was bound on the same path as their shared grandfather, that the prophecy of the 'Chosen One' maintained that there must be darkness before balance could be brought. To the youngest Skywalker, the greatest Seer in the Order, that meant that he would fall prey to the darkness.  
  
He had heard about Vergere's teachings, that there was no side of light or dark to the Force, that the Force cared little for which side you chose. Anakin could believe that to a point, that the Force's will would be done regardless of those who were more fully attuned to it. But could the Force have a will and not care? Was the osmosis of the universe strictly held by the forces of good or evil, or was there a more spiritual quest for the Force?  
  
Belatedly, Anakin realized that these were some of the very same questions that used to irritate him when they had come from his brother Jacen. At the time he had felt Jacen lacked faith, not only in their uncle but in the Force itself. Now he realized that Jacen had been on a quest to find the Force's will.  
  
With a sense of detachment, Anakin wondered where the boy he had once known himself to be had gone to. That boy had been so confident in his path, knew exactly what he was and where he wanted to be. Now that those goals had been accomplished, a Jedi Knight with the Force as his ally, he realized that there was even more to gain in the Force, other lessons life had to teach him. He had grown old before his time.  
  
Namely - where he went from here. In some ways he had gone beyond his expectations as a youth; in others he was sorely lacking. It disturbed him that he had been so willing to push aside Ben's feelings and think mainly of his own. Selfishness had no place in the life of a Jedi.  
  
Again his hand came up to touch his lip. Lips that could still taste the sweet spice of Analsa's breath on them. Yes, he did have feelings towards the young woman, his student, ones he hadn't suspected and didn't necessarily want.  
  
Anakin was thankful for the familiar surroundings of the Falcon. It seemed to him to be the one thing that truly hadn't changed in the time he had been in the oombassl.  
  
Why was I saved? he thought with a mental cry. Why was Ben led by the Force to find me? Why did Vergere risk so much to seclude me on Tatooine?  
  
All questions that Anakin had been reluctant to ask himself, ones that had been inside his mind and yet unheard by his mental ear since he had first learned of his rebirth. In these moments of self-actualization, Anakin forced himself to ponder them, to wonder why he had been allowed to dwell in stasis for fifteen years. The prophecy of the 'Chosen One' was forever in his mind, the possibility that it might be him and not Ben, and if not him, then was he meant to protect Ben and stop him from the terrible destiny the young seer had envisioned? So many questions, and much too few answers.  
  
He longed for the clear presence of his uncle. We all mourn in our own way, Analsa's words came back to him, slapping him this time. In fact, the whole conversation with his student struck him as odd. From her tone, he now understood that she knew what it was to mourn, but there was an underlying anger that didn't surprise him. He had seen that she was quick to anger, as quick as he had been in younger years. It was because of this that Anakin had worked extra hard to rid her of the easy temper, which had cemented Analsa's own feelings towards him.  
  
Who did she lose? he asked himself. There remained a bitterness in her deep contralto, a wound that recently had been reopened and prodded at. Anakin suspected it had to do with Naboo the way she had reacted to the planet's name upon the beginning of their journey. Yet, she did not back out when Anakin gave her the very opportunity. She was a touchy one; Anakin admired that. And he wondered how he had missed the growing feelings between the two of them.  
  
Swinging around in the pilot's seat, he faced the forward viewport, studying the light lines of stretched stars. The elusive quality of hyperspace was far easier to understand than the mystery of Analsa Vinn. 


	8. War Has Begun

Chapter 8: War has Begun  
  
Settled deeply in Warmaster Shraq's living throne, Lord Nefarion stroked a gloved hand across the gelatinous blob of the villip that would make contact with Tranx aboard the Sith Lord's flagship. It was little effort at all to repress the revulsion for the biotechnology of the Yuuzhan Vong; Nefarion smothered it under the glory such equipment and their wielders could bring him. Power was the ultimate high for this Sith Lord, the taint of the dark side like mother's milk to him, and he reveled in his newfound control of the extragalactic travelers.  
  
Even the Supreme Overlord, Yular, had become convinced of Nefarion's status with the Gods, that the Yuuzhan Vong dogma was now a part of him. The biotechnology that previously had reacted aggressively to Lord Nefarion adhered to his commands, until Nefarion believed in his own lie. That he was a God, to bring the galaxy under his foot, and grind it into submission.  
  
No one would get in his way, not even the Jedi. They would be under his power; he would not make the same mistake his predecessor made in destroying so much potential, he would turn them all to his side, starting with Ben Skywalker. The many successes and minor failures of his plot fueled Nefarion to a point where he did not think in rational terms, he felt his place at the head assured.  
  
Of course, this did not mean that the Sith Lord did not see obstacles in his path. Turning Skywalker from the path of the light would prove to be difficult, their short encounter on Bellalt had proven as much to Nefarion. The boy had just seen his father gutted by a lightsaber, and after the initial anger had only sought to spend the remaining time Master Skywalker had. The boy had been nicely indoctrinated with the fallacies of the light side, the prohibitions that the Jedi placed on themselves, unnecessarily weakening them and strengthening the Sith. But the fact that the anger had existed in that brief moment allowed Nefarion to believe it possible.  
  
There was also another hook to reel Skywalker in with, one that no one but he knew existed; even his apprentice, the Lady Sarlana, remained in the dark about this. The time was drawing close to revelation, but not yet, not until he had the Temple in his grasp.  
  
The villip squirmed, rebounded, shimmered, and coalesced into the outlined features of his servant, Tranx. The profile of the man was long, as if the transmitting villip was picking him up from a great distance, and Nefarion noted the stump of the arm that had been the result of Tranx's punishment for his failures on Bellalt. The grizzled and hunched aged man stepped forward towards the villip and exacted an awkward bow.  
  
"M'Lord," came the equally grizzled voice, making the honorific seem harsh and false.  
  
He is nervous, Nefarion picked up by the way the rangy muscles in the depreciated man tensed at the villip-embossed sight of him. My punishment has shown him that I do not take kindly to failure. Nefarion smiled behind the dark shroud of his cowl. Only Sarlana knew of the features that lay behind that cowl, only she had seen the twist of the cruel smile, but in the tensing of Tranx's skin-loose jaw line Nefarion knew that the smile did not need to be seen to be felt.  
  
"Are the strike teams assembled?" Nefarion asked. Ice frosted his tone to the temperature of Hoth.  
  
Again, Tranx bowed, managing not to topple over with his hunched back. "Yes, M'lord, and awaiting your orders."  
  
"Make sure that they aim only for the Yuuzhan Vong, regardless if they are Devotee or Separatists," Nefarion said, the timbre in his voice alluding to what would happen if there was yet another failure.  
  
Tranx's throat bobbed against his thin-skinned neck as he swallowed at the implication. "Of course, M'lord. The fleet has been apprised of the situation."  
  
The fleet that Tranx spoke of would be powered by the black clad warriors that Nefarion had sent out for the assault on Bellalt, his own special forces team that would replace the Yuuzhan Vong once they were no longer needed against the Jedi. It had turned out to be advantageous that the only two Jedi who could sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force were no longer on Coruscant.  
  
Already, phase three of the plan to take over the Jedi was in preparation, just as were the strike teams that would help cement the reunion of Yuuzhan Vong forces.  
  
Nefarion studied the strategist whom had been amongst the old Empire and would rise with Nefarion's new one. The Sith Lord would reign, as had his mentor before him, and he would have Ben Skywalker at his side, with no threat from Anakin Solo. This hunched old man would bring him his victory, or the Sith would bring him his death.  
  
Tranx knew this; it was evident in the tremor that ran through the thinned, fragile body, the way the stump of an arm twitched from the phantom pains of Nefarion's lightsaber blow. The aged former Imperial would not fail him again.  
  
"Release the strike teams," Nefarion ordered. "I want the Yuuzhan Vong to regret the day they ever surrendered to the New Republic."  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
The first wave was in transit. Tranx took his place as the commander of his Lord, the Sith Master Nefarion's, flaship. It was a stolen Mon Cal cruiser, the ship's registration having been altered to broadcast that it was a part of the New Republic Defense Fleet. Gaining the registration signatures had taken a painstaking process of training Sarlana to find the signature registrations and then to copy them. Once that was done, Nefarion had sent his young protege out to seduce one of the military hierarchy, giving her the access they needed to pull off this major military maneuver.  
  
He rubbed the stump of his right arm, where he still felt the ghost of the rest of his limb, the one that Nefarion had denied him the ability of replacing after the Sith Lord had taken it. If Tranx succeeded in this campaign he would get a prosthetic replacement for the absence of his living appendage, and if he were to fail....  
  
Tranx broke off from this train of thought, knowing full well what the two Sith were capable of, himself having created some of the techniques they used against their enemies. He would not fail, for there was no room for failure in the former Imperial's mind. Nefarion would rise as Emperor of this galaxy, and Tranx would lead as regional governor, the reward for all that he had given to the Sith Master's cause.  
  
"Initiate first wave."  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Newly Knighted, Valin Horn stretched as well as he could in the cockpit of his X-wing, severely missing the presence of an R2 unit in his new model starfighter, and wondering why the shipyards still played with taking out the astromech units. To distract the Jedi team that was meant to find Ben Skywalker and bring him back to the Temple, Valin had been jumping from one system to the next, dropping the younger Jedi's name whenever possible in the local cities, implying the fact that he was indeed Ben Skywalker. That should lead the Council's team on a grand nerf chase.  
  
The ruse was only supposed to last until Jedi Leia Organa Solo made the announcement that her brother, the greatest Jedi Master in the known universe, had indeed died on the planet Bellalt. Once it was known to the galaxy, the tri-D's would be showing pictures of Ben Skywalker once again, and it would never be believed that Valin Horn was indeed the Master's son.  
  
Still, Valin had enjoyed his stint away from the Temple, having grown frustrated inside the stone walls that breathed melancholy over the Master's death. Bellalt had helped him to understand Ben as his father had secretly wished, and every time he had seen the deep-etched sorrow in the younger boy's features, guilt struck him that he had ever thought the boy unworthy of his heritage. It was partly why he had been so ready to leave the Temple when his father explained the coup to him.  
  
On the X-wing's console, the hyperclock wound down, ticking as the time to exit hyperspace approached. He was heading for the Separatist-held planetary system of Aulkner, a heavily bogged area that held rich moisture and swamp-like climate, somewhere unlikely, that was in the exact opposite direction of Naboo, where it was believed that Ben had actually gone. He knew that the Council's team was hot on his trail, and he had just managed to get out of the Anoat system before they had entered, his father having warned him after receiving a report from the team to the High Council.  
  
In the custom of the Jedi, Valin ignored the hyperclock as it came closer to the time to exit hyperspace, instead he brought his focus onto the Force, letting the living energy field guide his actions. Now, it seemed to whisper, and Valin pulled the X-wing out of hyperspace.  
  
The mottled olive-greens and browns of the planet Aulkner filled his foreward viewport, deceptively calm for what appeared in the next few moments.  
  
A fleet of New Republic ships entered the outer atmosphere of Aulkner just as Valin was entering it. Finding this extremely odd, Valin flicked several switches on his console to hail the approaching fleet.  
  
"This is Jedi Valin Horn of the Jedi Order, do you copy?" he called over the inset speaker of his flight helmet.  
  
Static was his only reply. He looked at his proximity screen, and the registrations that were coming through for each ship - they all were registered to the New Republic's Defense Fleet. "This is Jedi Valin Horn, do you copy?" he tried again. Surely, if this was the NRDF they would respond to his calls. The Jedi were no longer shunned amongst the government's hierarchy as they had been in the first Yuuzhan Vong war. They were now a power in the galaxy.  
  
Frustrated, Valin thumbed off the link, his ears stinging at the onrush of space static that poured through his ear speaker. There was an air of malevolence in the Force, making the small hairs rise on his body. What was going on? How could the NRDF be held as a threat to him or the swamp planet rotating slowly below him?  
  
Trusting the urgings in the Force, Valin angled his deflector shields, feeding more power to the aft of his ship.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Leia Organa Solo had called the press conference with a heavy heart. She had hoped that Anakin would have found Ben by now, and that she could get the all clear from her nephew before making the sorrowful announcement that her brother had passed away into the Force, but the Council could no longer hold off the amount of queries coming from the different quadrants of the galaxy, asking for Jedi help and wondering why the Order's most prominent figure was not in attendance where the rest of the Council was. Luke had given the greater part of his life to the workings of the Force, had pushed aside everything else, sometimes even including his family, to ensure the growth and stability of the galaxy, through the service of the Jedi Order.  
  
His sacrifices had been unparalleled, the many trials he had endured to ensure the peace of the galaxy, and the loss of his wife. How did one fit all of that into a simple conference, a lifetime of service into a few short hours? The pain rose anew in Leia as she was once again struck with the thought that the galaxy would never again know the benevolence that had embodied her brother.  
  
Coming to the podium, the lights of a thousand tri-D recorders blinding her to the variety of faces as each representative from thousands upon thousands of worlds sat propped ready to hear and record every one of her words.  
  
There was a tremor in the Force as Leia looked down at her speech.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
The Ithorian monk Sonaw Tar and his Yuuzhan Vong counterpart were out amongst the integrated flora and fauna of two galaxies, each coaxing new and wondrous life from the rich earth of Ithor. It had become a project of peace, a combination of violent and the benign as the once destroyed Ithor was cultivated to its former glory. The Ithorian monks had invited the former Yuuzhan Vong shapers to the planet themselves, seeing the opportunity to bring even greater accord in the reproduction of the plant life of such a once-beautiful planet.  
  
Custri Pos, Sonaw's Yuuzhan Vong companion, was bent over a peculiar mix of the two galaxies, a flower that bloomed an aggravated red color and whose stem thrummed with the red ichor-like fluid that pumped life-giving through the planet. It was said that the two species had been able to produce a sentient plant life form, one that could think and respond as the coralskippers or the grown ships of the rogue planet, Zonama Sekot, did.  
  
From across the galaxy, all came to see the tranquil beauty that the two species had come to develop on the once-ruined world, but the ships that leapt out of hyperspace and arrowed down to the unsuspecting planet were not those of tourists come to soak in the enriched beauty of Ithor. Their purpose was much more malignant, a cancer that would come to spread through the galaxy, attacking the defenseless and instigating war in a galaxy that had come to peace.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Leia swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat, her promise to not break down running through her head. Off to the side she felt Han's presence radiating, if not calm, understanding and support. I love you, nerf herder, she thought out to him, knowing that he would, and would not, feel the call she sent.  
  
"I regret to inform you that during the attack of the planetary system Bellalt, my brother, the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, was killed."  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Zasong For'lin had just come home from his work as a hyperdrive assembler on the shipyard world of Bilbringi. A number of his fellow Shamed Ones, those once believed to be forsaken by the gods, had quickly taken to the intricacies of metal and wiring. It was good work, if hard, and Zasong had been able to develop the hyperdrive so that it worked faster and with less fuel, developments he attributed to the years spent in slavery in the coral patches. He knew how a living repulsor field could work, and took from that knowledge to improve the metallic one.  
  
He had just come into his apartments where his mate and their offspring greeted him, when an alarm rang through the Bilbringi shipyards.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
A collective gasp filled the arena of reporters at Leia's statement, followed by an all-oppressive silence, that Leia had been trained to withstand but hated nonetheless. Taking a breath, she continued, before any of the reporters gained enough control of their senses to ask questions she was not quite yet ready to answer.  
  
"He died as he lived, in the service of the galaxy as a guardian of peace and justice," her voice echoed through the underwater Colosseum Chief Tiv had talked her into using for the announcement. She would have rather made it in the Temple that Luke had worked so hard to build.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
I think I'm in trouble, Valin thought to himself, displaying some of the Corellian detachment that had funneled down to him through his father. His proximity indicators were flashing an angry red at him as he continued to dive and barrel roll through the onslaught of blaster fire the NRDF fleet was pummeling his lone starfighter with. He pulled every trick his father had ever taught him, weaving through the lances of fatal energy with the guidance of the Force. A guidance that could stretch eternal, but was limited to his flawed form.  
  
Desperately, he fought to make contact with the representatives of the planet below, but the communications towers had already been rendered inoperable by the lances of destructive energy. Whoever was guiding the ship below, they could not have been sent by the New Republic, who no longer feared the Jedi or their presence in the galaxy, nor did they wish harm to the Yuuzhan Vong, their most dangerous enemy of late. Aulkner was sure to be the target, and Valin pounded at the console as his frustration mounted in his inability to warn them of the size of the fleet that was approaching them.  
  
Switching mental gears. Valin took a deep breath, his fingers flying deftly over the console. If he could not contact Aulkner then he would transmit to Coruscant, warn the Council of his discovery. The ripples in the Force were filled of the portent of Ben's analysis of their new cloaked enemy. Aulkner would be a target to once again join the split Yuuzhan Vong brethren, to realign the beliefs that this galaxy had been endowed to them by the gods.  
  
Time was running short for the young Jedi Knight, he could feel that he would not make it out of this encounter alive. Along with the report he sent a farewell to his father.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
It sounded like the ancient ritual drums of a long forgotten society, a rabid thud with music, a tonality of violence and destruction. It ripped through the gentle living sounds of Ithor, a planet that had seen far too much hardship in the last few decades, and had just begun to revive the effulgence that the planet had once embodied.  
  
The attack was well coordinated and crafted by the genius of those who knew where the weakest of life's links existed. Each ion blast struck Yuuzhan Vong and the extragalactic biotechnology, leaving everything that was native to the galaxy standing. Ithorian monks and their Yuuzhan Vong counterparts scurried, trying to set up the shielding the New Republic had provided for the planet's defense, to protect the growth of life they had so painstakingly cultivated from the ruin the planet had once been.  
  
Sonaw spotted Custri not too far from him, and ran as fast as his stalk- like legs could take him, but even as he went, blinding light collided with the dirt of Ithor, spraying it like a morbid fountain into the air, throwing Sonaw into a nearby Fasha tree trunk. It was a long moment before his eye-blindness set off by the explosion diminished and he could see through the nebulous haze and crawled to his companion and friend. He turned the body of Custri over, the hammerhead eyes of the Ithorian closing in silent prayer for his friend, as he took in the mess of flesh, torn and bloodied by the explosion that had once contain sentience.  
  
He hunched his body over his deceased friend for a moment before standing and once again running to help the other marked Yuuzhan Vong.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
"We are all aware of the many accomplishments of Luke Skywalker," Leia continued through the dazed silence of her listeners. "Some would say that his involvement in the Rebellion had been just a stroke of chance, that the important information stored inside a renegade astromech droid had fallen into his hands by accident. I say it was the will of the Force. If not for Luke Skywalker, the might of the Empire would have squashed the Rebellion under its foot."  
  
Leia paused, searching through the blinding lights, attempting to gauge the reactions of her audience. Her ache and grief for her brother had been pressed to the side of her, the wound still open but for now being numbed by the anesthetic of the mind.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
"Neysar," Ersa For'lin called to her father as she stumbled amongst the throng of running beings, hurrying to get to blast-shielded areas as the attack on Bilbringi continued.  
  
Zasong stopped and shouldered his way to his fallen daughter, gathering him up into his steel-like muscled arms and hurried to catch up with the rest of his family. It struck him as odd that the attack was centered on living quarters, and not the desirable ships that were manufactured in the shipyards.  
  
This was like a massacre, and it didn't take long for Zasong to notice that the massacre was directed at the Yuuzhan Vong. And when he caught a glimpse of the fleet through a transparasteel viewport in the crowded corridors, Zasong recognized who it was that attacked him and his people.  
  
"We have been betrayed."  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
"Princess Leia, where is Master Skywalker's son Ben?" came the first question as she opened the conference to questions.  
  
Wouldn't we all like to know, she thought with a touch of exasperation directed at her nephew. She knew the boy had done what he felt was best, but didn't he realize the trouble he was stirring for everyone else? "I'm sorry, I cannot give you Ben's location. He is in a time of mourning and grief."  
  
"How does Master Skywalker's death bode for the Jedi?" came another question, the tone of the conference turning from somber surprise to the eventuality of politics.  
  
"My brother built the Jedi Order, he was a firm basis, but not the only one. The Jedi Order will continue on," Leia answered grandiosely.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Valin's X-wing banked and wove through the energy lances, his X-wing had already acquired a great amount of damage and it wouldn't be long before his drives cut out completely, leaving him at the voided mercy of the attacking fleet. He had managed to transmit the message, but he did not know how long it would take for it to reach the Council and his father.  
  
Grinding sounds emitted from his starboard and port fuselage, quickly shifting to a slow wind-down that left him with no doubt that he had no escape. Moments later, his X-wing drifting with its initial inertia, the intense energy blasts ripped through Valin's X-wing, and he knew no more.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Anakin had arrived on Naboo. Ben felt his presence before the [i]Millennium Falcon[/i] had exited hyperspace, and had taken great pains to avoid his older cousin while searching for Artoo. The thought had crossed his mind to leave the rebellious droid behind and let Anakin find him, the Queen's promise to reveal his departure foremost in his mind, but he just couldn't leave behind one of the few links he had to his parents.  
  
To tell by Anakin's proximity, he had arrived this morning, and Ben figured he had a few hours before Anakin would learn that Ben was at the palace in Theed. Due to his shortened time table, Ben had enlisted the help of some of the Queen's men and her handmaidens to help find Artoo.  
  
It was in this inspection that Ben was thrown into the power of the Force, his ability as a seer flashing pictures in his mind's eyes. He saw the elusive darkness that he had told Anakin about, but now it did not hide, blending from shadow to shadow, but showed itself freely, gobbling up globes of luminescent light as it went. It didn't stop there, for the capacious black void split into tiny, easier-to-conceal voids.  
  
The tremors in the Force told him that the voids were in the present, that they were now wreaking their destruction on the unsuspecting life that the globes of Force-light represented. And Ben tried to funnel the Force out of him, to once again gain control of his abilities.  
  
His body was racked with spasms as he felt each and every one of the Yuuzhan Vong deaths, his subconscious picking up on an echo of Anakin's own torture as he too felt the deaths of the people that he had become so much a part of. The tremors continued until Ben felt so drained that he feared he was going to relieve his stomach contents within the palace corridors.  
  
[i]The dark side is rising, will my path lie next to my father's killer?[/i]  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Nefarion did not smile under the shadow of his cowl, but there was a feral look to his clouded eyes, reminiscent of a scavenger who has just found a large carcass abandoned. He fed off the dark energy that stirred through the Force, imbuing it into himself, tasting it like mother's milk.  
  
His ascension had begun. 


	9. I Fear Something Terrible has Happened

Chapter 9: I Fear Something Terrible has Happened.  
  
"Apprentice Skywalker, are you alright?" asked Sarné, one of the Queen's handmaidens, a slightly younger woman than the Queen but looked so much like her Highness that they could have easily been sisters, concern dripping from her voice.  
  
Ben blinked the sting of tears from his eyes and choked down the nausea that still clung to him like swamp muck to boots. "Fine," he answered weakly, feeling the farthest from the word that anyone possibly could. The echo of Anakin's pain still battered against his sand-blasted mind, and belatedly Ben built his shields around his scarred psyche.  
  
By the pinch of her large eyes, he could tell that she did not believe him, and knew he was lying, but the Handmaiden to the Queen had been well trained, and was wise enough not to question him about matters she could not understand. Still, there was a motherly air to the woman, and Ben was thankful that she repressed whatever natural instinct was sweeping over her.  
  
"I think we've found your R2 unit, Apprentice Skywalker," Sarné said, purposefully averting her eyes as Ben struggled to gain control over his body. The pain of the Yuuzhan Vong still stung through the Force, but Ben had managed to keep the images of their deaths from darkening his vision.  
  
"Please take me to him," Ben said.  
  
The petite woman led him down the corridors. Her strides were slow for his sake, Ben was sure, but he was thankful for that. He felt drained, as though he had been working his body for hours instead of just waking up at Naboo's dawn. It seemed impossible that he had woken to the warmth of Naboo's primary sunning him through the crystalline window, compared to the cold he felt now in the wake of the disturbance in the Force. The cold was penetrating, unlike anything he had ever felt before, but just as Luke had described to him during their training together.  
  
As he had uncountable times since Bellalt, Ben pushed the pain he still harbored at his father's death aside. It was a pain he was well accustomed to, a pain that never quite disappeared from his heart. His first encounter with it was when he saw his mother's death. Of course, he had seen it previously in a vision, but the reality was much more vivid, less obscured by the dream eye.  
  
They had found Artoo next to the statue of Ben's grandfathers and Master Jinn, his red sensory eye scanning the statue, a hum emanating from Artoo that made Ben think of someone attempting to discover the origin of déjà vu. Ben stepped next to the droid that had belonged to his father, resting a shaking hand on the droid's chrome dome.  
  
"You know them, don't you?" Ben asked, analyzing the features of the family. "Like you know Naboo and yet don't."  
  
The droid beeped an affirmative that Ben could understand all too well. Naboo was familiar in a maddening way, and the familiarity set to calm his mind. Yet, he could not stay.  
  
The Force was releasing him from Naboo for the time, although he was sure he would return soon enough. With Anakin practically breathing down his neck, he couldn't waste time looking for imaginary signs of peace even from his enshrined forefathers.  
  
Bowing before the handmaiden, Ben forced his attention to the older woman. "Please relay my thanks to Her Highness. But I'm afraid I must cut my visit to Naboo short."  
  
The overhead ambient light shimmered in Sarné's auburn hair. "Her Highness expected as much, and wishes you a safe journey. She also hoped that you would return to Naboo at a more convenient time."  
  
"Tell Queen Pernillia that it would be my honor to return," Ben said, feeling true to his words for the first time.  
  
With the niceties exchanged, the Handmaiden left without further preamble, her amber shifting orange of her robes flowing behind her. Ben watched her only for a while before he returned his attention to the droid that could be so irritating, and yet Ben couldn't help but feel thankful for the droid's presence, even with Artoo's antics.  
  
"Come on, Artoo," Ben said, waving a hand towards the palace docking bay. "We've got to get out of here before Anakin learns of our location." He eyed the droid. "But that's what you had in mind all along, isn't it?"  
  
The droid twittled indignantly at his new owner, his dome top spinning in the droid equivalent of a denying shake of the head. "Don't act innocent with me," Ben said with a trace of the exasperation he had been holding in tight. "Now let's go."  
  
Artoo trundled in front of him with the air of a child caught with his hand in the cookie receptacle, petulant, and Ben was sure he heard an electronic raspberry emanate from his R2 unit. "I wish I could explain this to you Artoo, but I don't even understand it myself," Ben said, feeling bad for dragging the droid all over the galaxy without so much as an explanation. Visions of the future - they were meant for great heros like his parents, aunt, and uncle, not for a boy who would come to darkness.  
  
His only hope was to avoid those whom he would bring the greatest damage to. The darkness was already rising, he could feel it in the shockwaves in the Force, the many rents caused by the violent deaths of the Yuuzhan Vong that very few could sense in the Force. It took all he had not to take his X-wing and investigate all those deaths, to try to stop them further, but in doing so would he only propagate his own darkness, the turn that was as inevitable as his parents' deaths?  
  
The droid twittered a question.  
  
"We're going to visit an old friend," Ben answered. "He'll keep my location a secret."  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Anakin didn't see the deaths of the Yuuzhan Vong, but they ripped through his mind with such intensity that he might as well have. Beside him, Analsa and Dorsca Cherrz shuddered under the impact as well. As if from a far-off distance, Anakin could feel Ben's reaction to the disturbance in the Force, the full impact it had on his young cousin. Ben had never felt such a disturbance, having lived in a relative time of peace for most of his life.  
  
Reaching out to the breathtaking picturesque life on Naboo, life that seemed more like a mirage than reality, Anakin let its warmth fill him, drowning out the cries of several thousand Yuuzhan Vong, their lives unexpectedly taken. Through the mind connection that Anakin had with Ben since the day he had been reborn from the [i]oombassl[/i], he felt Ben's own pain echo through the Force. The youngest Skywalker had never had to deal with such a disturbance, and had no idea how to counteract it with the life surrounding him.  
  
Although his heart went out to his cousin, Anakin saw the opportunity that Ben's battered shields afforded him. Again, he sought the energies of the Force, weaving them to comb the surface of Naboo for the young, vibrant, but incredibly skilled presence of his cousin. Just as he was beginning to secure a location on the boy, Ben's shields came up to surround him, cloaking him from Anakin's search.  
  
"Blast," Anakin muttered, his own mind still reeling from the tiny rents in the Force but with less effect than his two companions.  
  
Analsa was the first to come out of it completely; her already alabaster skin had grown as white as Nubian clouds, but was now returning to its original color. She looked at Anakin with eyes that were half confused, half afraid. "What was that?"  
  
Anakin held off her question with a finger, and walked over to Cherrz, who had gone board-straight and was staring into space as though paralyzed by fear. This was something that only a Jedi trained in the Force should have felt, but Cherrz was no mere Jedi, he was the first Yuuzhan Vong to ever be taught as a Jedi. Placing his hands on Cherrz's sloped forehead, Anakin called upon the Force, building shields to protect the green student's vulnerable mind. His hands shook with the effort of keeping his own tight shields and erecting those for his Yuuzhan Vong friend; strange that he would come to think of any Vong as a friend to the Jedi.  
  
Sensing the relaxation in Cherrz's muscles, Anakin dropped his hands and focused on the sunken sockets of the Yuuzhan Vong. "Is that better?" he asked.  
  
Ben had used the same tactic on him when on the planet Linnal, after a Yuuzhan Vong living dome had been destroyed in the hopes of instigating a war between the Vong and the other beings of the galaxy.  
  
Cherrz blinked his butterfly thin eyelids several times, as if coming out of a long deep sleep, before nodding his head yes. "I've never felt anything like that before."  
  
"Let's hope you never have to again," Anakin said, laying a hand on Cherrz's sinewy muscled shoulder.  
  
"What was that?" demanded Analsa, that same look of warring confusion and fear in her dark eyes.  
  
Anakin worried how Ben was taking this. There was no one there at his side to help deal with the onslaught, as there had been when Anakin had first felt it, or as there was now for Cherrz and Analsa. I stand alone. I fall alone. These words had echoed into Anakin's mind, and the newly made Jedi Knight recognized where they had come from. Ben planned to become his vision alone so he would not bring any of his loved ones down with him, but didn't his cousin realize that by hiding from them he led himself on that dark path that he so feared?  
  
"A great disturbance in the Force. Something terrible has happened," Anakin murmured, more to himself than to answer Analsa's pressing interrogation. "We have to make contact with the High Council."  
  
The two students stared at Anakin and his sudden reversal of policy. He had instructed them that were they to come along they could not let the Council know of their whereabouts for fear that they would inadvertently lead the High Council's team to Ben. He could only imagine to what lengths Ben would go if the Council team found him before Anakin; the youngest Skywalker had already made it quite clear that he would do anything to keep his vision from coming to fruition. Things had changed, however - Lord Nefarion had made yet another move (Anakin having no doubt that those tiny rents in the Force had been the result of yet another of the Sith's plots to bring the separatist and devotee Yuuzhan Vong together), and in the hopes of stopping another one, Anakin knew that communication between every Jedi and the High Council was needed.  
  
"Ben is safe for the time being," Anakin said, addressing their hidden concerns. "It is more imperative that we learn what has happened on other worlds." He looked to Dorsca Cherrz. "Especially those that are held by the Yuuzhan Vong."  
  
Comprehension dawned on Analsa's features. "The Yuuzhan Vong were attacked," she said.  
  
"Yes, and as the few who can sense them in the Force, it is our duty to report to the High Council what has happened," Anakin reiterated. He wasn't necessarily looking forward to the meeting with the six Jedi and their non- Jedi counterparts.  
  
The threesome had just come out one of Naboo's docking ports and had been walking the brick-paved streets, when the disturbance had set them rocking on their heels. Anakin had managed to stash them in a surprisingly empty alley-way so as not to collect attention, which in itself was a miracle. He looked around, at all the faces of the Nubians, the frog-like Gungans, and the refugee Yuuzhan Vong, none of them having sensed what the three Jedi had. Anakin found himself studying the Yuuzhan Vong more intensely, searching for signs that there were others that were like Cherrz, finding none that were readily apparent.  
  
Was Cherrz an anomaly in the Force, the only one amongst his people to be able to harness the power of the energy field that was created by all living things, that was available to the Jedi? He saw Cherrz doing the same thing, looking for someone who was like himself, and it struck Anakin how lonely it must be for the only Yuuzhan Vong to be accepted into the Order for training. It was a loneliness that Anakin was well accustomed to, a loneliness he had felt diminish with his growing relationship to Ben.  
  
"Let's head back to the Falcon. We can make contact there," Anakin instructed. He had led missions before, the last one the mission to Myrkr - nearly doomed, it had been the workings of the Force that it had succeeded, but he was reminded of how out of place he was in this universe.  
  
As they headed back, Analsa took in the view of Naboo, her dark eyes not missing a thing as she peered into a street shop or traced the outlines of the flowing architecture. It was her home world, and yet she acted as though she were a stranger to it. The similarity between them was not missed by Anakin. They were both in places that were meant to be their homes, and yet they could find no solace in them. Was that why he felt so connected to the younger woman? Did he feel that she knew him on a deeper level because of the trials she had been called to endure?  
  
"There's nothing like coming home," he whispered to her, as they continued their pace towards the Falcon.  
  
Analsa remained cold towards him, had been so since last night and the kiss that should never have happened. Her features froze into those that might have been seen on a protocol droid, harsh and metallic. "This isn't my home," she stated.  
  
"Then maybe after all this is finished you would like to return to Bimmissari," Anakin said. He was prying shamelessly and knew it.  
  
Now indignation replaced the coldness. "Are you interrogating me, Solo?"  
  
"I'd rather think of it as trying to get to know you," Anakin countered, feeling frustration butt against his serene hold. "You don't speak much about your past."  
  
"There's a reason for that, Anakin," she growled.  
  
Well, at least it's 'Anakin' again, the reborn Jedi thought. The way she called him 'Solo', it made him feel as though she were addressing his father, not him. "Alright, I can take a hint," he said, holding up his hands and pushing them against the air as though to ward off her malignant glare.  
  
"Alright, where's your home?" Analsa shot back.  
  
"Right now? Coruscant," Anakin answered.  
  
"Just like that?" Analsa asked, incredulous.  
  
Anakin found himself considering her words. Coruscant had been his home, as had Yavin 4, before both worlds had been terraformed by the Yuuzhan Vong, yet he had moved from planet to planet so much that to claim one place as his home world was quiet ambiguous. "My home is where my family is," Anakin came to the answer.  
  
"Yes, well I wish I could say the same," Analsa answered, and took the lead to the Falcon, leaving Anakin and Cherrz a meter behind.  
  
"What amphistaff crawled into her coralpatch?" Cherrz asked, as he sidled next to Anakin.  
  
Anakin snorted, enjoying the fact that Cherrz could joke around him, even if it were Yuuzhan Vong humor that probably escaped most of Anakin's understanding. "I'm afraid I'm the amphistaff, my friend."  
  
"She cares for you," Cherrz told him. "That is where her anger stems."  
  
"Why is it that sometimes you seem more of a Jedi than myself, Dorsca Cherrz?" Anakin asked, surprised at the clarity with which Cherrz had described the situation.  
  
The Yuuzhan Vong shrugged his shoulders. "We are taught from an early age to study the reactions of those surrounding us. We may no longer be a warrior race, but the old habits die hard. Analsa walks away from you now, but in the way she stomps her feet she betrays her longing to walk towards you."  
  
Anakin studied Analsa's booted feet, trying to see what Cherrz had, and failing miserably. All he sensed and saw was a young woman he had hurt deeply, not intentionally, but the pain was there still the same. "My life was so much easier when I was dead."  
  
"I am told that you were kept in an [i]oombassl[/i]?" Cherrz questioned.  
  
"That is what Ben was told when he discovered me," Anakin assured. "Time flitted by and I had no consciousness of it." His ice-chipped eyes suddenly fixed on his hands, hands that were not the way he remembered them in his most recent memory. His body had registered the passing of time, even as his mind lay dormant waiting for someone to wake him from the death sleep.  
  
Cherrz's deep set eyes considered him with a hint of awe. "It's amazing you survived at all," he revealed. "Any Yuuzhan Vong left for that amount of time would surely have perished. Is it the Force that allowed you to remain for fifteen years?"  
  
Shock coursed through Anakin's already taxed body. Any Yuuzhan Vong would surely have perished. Once again, Anakin was confronted with the question of why he had survived. Why had he been brought back to the living when his death had been prepared? He no more wanted to be the 'Chosen One' of prophecy than Ben did, a life of simple service was all he had ever strived for.  
  
"The Force, the workings of a Jedi Master who saw her own design," Anakin said, bitterness tainting his words. "I have no answers, my friend. I'm only left with the consequences."  
  
Analsa's bootsteps rang against the durasteel of the boarding ramp as she bounded up into the belly of the Falcon. Anakin winced, he had better hurry or the High Council would have to face Analsa's wrath, certainly not endearing Anakin to them any further.  
  
"You are for her too, I think," Cherrz said as they neared the Falcon's loading ramp, Analsa disappearing out of sight.  
  
"She's my student, Cherrz, I can't feel anything - but a teacher," he corrected, knowing that he was lying to himself as much as to his Yuuzhan Vong friend.  
  
"Yet your steps take you to her," Cherrz countered before taking the ramp ahead of Anakin.  
  
Anakin joined them in the Falcon's gaming room, where the holotable had been rigged to work as a holonet transceiver, another necessity that had come out of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. Analsa had planted herself on one of the cushions, and was purposefully making eye contact. He could tell that she was as much upset by the recent disturbance in the Force as by anything that Anakin had said or done. In time she would cool off, and this distance was for the best. She could then find another to take up her training, one that wouldn't let his own emotions get in the way, and wasn't focused on another apprentice.  
  
It wasn't much trouble to get in contact with the Council, and they were about as pleased to see him as he had expected. Their dour expressions were evident even in the holographic static that was customary between long range communications. Senator Ller was not there, much to his relief, but he was worried not to see Corran Horn amongst the High Council. In fact, behind those dour expressions and the glares of disapproval, lay an emotion that he had not expected on the High Council. Fear.  
  
Did they already know of the disturbance that had ripped through the Force? It was possible, considering the training that Ben and Anakin had focused on in their younger classes. Perhaps one of the children had advanced enough to feel the disturbance and report on it.  
  
Master Durron took point as the highest ranking member of the Order. "Anakin, I should have expected you not to follow orders." Was it Anakin's imagination, or was Kyp actually pleased that he had not?  
  
"I felt that the High Council had made an error in judgement," Anakin said evenly, not displaying an inkling of guilt to those who sat in the circle of the High Council. "Rather than take the time to discuss it in committee, the Force urged me to action."  
  
"I assume that you made contact now because you have felt Valin Horn's death," Kyp said, in tones that were both sad and antagonistic. Kyp didn't like being disobeyed, something he had forgotten whenever he had felt Anakin's uncle was wrong.  
  
For the second time today, a tremor of shock passed through Anakin. "No," he said, more subdued. "I wasn't aware."  
  
That caught the older Jedi off guard, and he instantly was morose. "I'm sorry to have to tell you like that, Anakin." He stiffened, donning the Jedi Master facade once again. On Kyp it was a façade, on Luke Skywalker it had been a mantle. "Why have you contacted the High Council then?"  
  
"There was a disturbance in the Force," Anakin said, trying to get the image of the little boy he had rescued from Yavin IV along with the other Jedi children out of his head. He felt as though he had failed the young boy for not being able to rescue him again.  
  
Kyp's dark brows furrowed on his ghostly white skin. "We have felt no disturbance."  
  
"The disturbance involved Yuuzhan Vong," Anakin explained the Council's inability. "Only myself, Dorsca Cherrz, Analsa Vinn, and Ben felt it. Someone or something is targeting Yuuzhan Vong."  
  
"You suspect the Sith?" Kyp asked, his eyes narrowing with the name. For a short time, Kyp himself had tread the Dark Side, and had been under the control of a dead Sith Lord, Exar Kun, during that time.  
  
Anakin nodded, noting that Analsa and Cherrz were whispering to each other behind him. "It would follow the pattern Ben lined out once we returned from Linnal. If Lord Nefarion is like any other Sith Lord we've run into, he wants power, and the quickest way to power is to start chaos. The Yuuzhan Vong realigning and instigating war against us would be that chaos."  
  
Thoughtful, Kyp folded his arms to himself, pacing as he pondered Anakin words. He looked up suddenly. "You said that Ben felt it as well, is he with you now?"  
  
"No, he's still on Naboo, but for how long I don't know. His shields were torn open by the disturbance and I was able to sense his turmoil, but he was quick to erect his barriers and I couldn't get a location on him," Anakin admitted.  
  
From off of Anakin's view, he heard the sound of doors whirring open and Kyp turned to the new arrival; by the look of pity on Kyp's face Anakin knew that it was Corran Horn. Did I send his son into this danger? Is it because of me that Valin died not a week into his Knighthood? Anakin already knew that Valin was not in an oombassl, that the Force had taken away the young man and his brightness, and there was nothing Anakin could do to stop it.  
  
Kyp traveled off screen, most likely to fill Corran in on the developments Anakin had related. A moment later, both Jedi Masters stepped into view. It was all Anakin could do to keep from smashing his eyes closed at the desolation Corran so painstakingly tried to hide behind the serenity of a Jedi Knight. It was a look only slightly less haunting than the one he had seen on Ben's face before he had left the Temple.  
  
"Corran..."Anakin started, ready to apologize for getting his son mixed up in this mess.  
  
"Don't, Anakin," the older Jedi stopped him, the command sounding more like a plea from the grief-stricken Jedi. "Valin managed to get off a report before his ship was destroyed. He confirms your suspicion that it was the Sith Lord. Nefarion is more dangerous than we realize, I think. The fleet that came over Aulkner had registry transponders of the New Republic Defense Fleet. I fear it is only a matter of time before the Yuuzhan Vong retaliate."  
  
Behind Anakin, Dorsca Cherrz stiffened. "I hope it does not come to that, Master," Cherrz said, the sincerity ringing in his voice hard to miss.  
  
A smile that lacked humor came upon Corran's aging face. "That is what we all hope. Anakin, Dorsca Cherrz's training is of the utmost important now. Perhaps through him we can stop this war. But do not divert from your search of Ben - if he is the 'Chosen One', he will need to bring balance to the upset Nefarion is making."  
  
"Aulkner wasn't the only planet to be targeted," Anakin said, sticking to business and avoiding the ache that was pressing on his heart. "The disturbance was too large for that. Have you gotten any further reports?"  
  
Kyp nodded. "One from Ithor, but it may be a while before we hear from the other Yuuzhan Vong-held worlds. Communications may have been knocked out."  
  
"Especially if Nefarion wants the Yuuzhan Vong to feel as though the New Republic has abandoned and betrayed them," Corran put in, the Jedi Master showing the same resolve in his duty that Anakin had seen in Ben, even though he believed Ben was taking the wrong turn.  
  
"I get the feeling that this won't be the only attack," Anakin re-entered the conversation. "Ben spoke of an elusive darkness that was approaching. I feel as though these attacks are connected."  
  
"All the more reason to bring in Ben Skywalker," Kyp confirmed.  
  
Anakin swallowed hard against the rising lump in his throat. "It must be done carefully, Kyp. I can't explain everything, but call off your team or we may end up with our 'Chosen One' taking his own life."  
  
Now the glares had turned to pale, wide-eyed disbelief. "Is it that serious, Anakin?" Corran asked.  
  
"It could be," Anakin answered, not wanting to reveal anything further to the Council.  
  
Corran took Anakin's diversion to heart, and rapidly changed the subject. "Then I think we can all agree to allow Anakin Solo to continue his search alone," Corran said, sweeping his gaze to all the present Council members; not one of them rose up to argue with him. Anakin was grateful for that. He would hate for Corran to have to argue his way, so shortly after his son's death. "Ben made contact with us upon his arrival on Naboo. He did so at the request of Queen Pernillia. You may want to see if she is willing to divulge any information about his whereabouts."  
  
Anakin bowed, "Yes, Masters." Corran's eyes remained on him as the transmission flickered and disincorporated.  
  
The Skywalker/Solos always seemed to pull off the impossible; yes, they had lost Luke, but that was after a thousand near-death experiences. Anakin coming back, a reborn Jedi, seemed hardly fair to all those who had lost loved ones in the Yuuzhan Vong war. Did Corran hate him now because of the resurrection? Whereas Valin would never have the chance to be reborn, dead in a space battle meant to cause chaos for a Sith Lord who wanted the son of Skywalker?  
  
[i]There are things no one can fix[/i], Anakin thought wearily as he slumped down onto the gaming table bench. 


	10. There is No Civility, Only Politics

Chapter 10: There is No Civility, Only Politics  
  
"We were betrayed," the Yuuzhan Vong Separatist from the Bilbringi shipyards, Zasong For'lin, shouted, his clawed fingers balled up in a fist until the sharp ends punctured through the soft skin of his palm. His sloped forehead was corrugated in disturbed ruffles brought on by his tortured anger.  
  
Representative Zorel, the Separatists' delegate in the senate, waited out the resounding wave of anger that rumbled through the small dome serving as a replacement for the Separatist Tower that had been destroyed in the Battle of Bellalt.  
  
Warmaster Tarsvin Shraq had warned him of what was to come, had explained that the deaths of their brethren had sent them to exaltation with the Gods. Zorel had noted the fervor in Shraq's eyes when he had said this, and the Separatists' representative knew that the time they had been waiting for had finally come. The time to join their brothers and destroy the infidels of this universe, to purge the very machines that the Separatists had tainted themselves with, the blasphemy that they had so willingly grasped in hands that had only known the living organisms of their biotechnology.  
  
The attacks had left a number of their people either dead or with wounds that were so severe that it was only a matter of time before they would join the Gods. None of the injured, however, asked for their lives to be taken, and it was an indicator, to Zorel, just how far the Separatists had come from the old ways.  
  
Zorel had been an agent of the Devotees, a present-time Nom Anor, who didn't let the taint of the infidels contaminate him as his predecessor had allowed. He had learned the art of manipulation from the galactic Senate, and knew when it was time to get rid of a possible problem. Dorsca Cherrz, his onetime assistant, had been one of those problems, and Zorel's attempt to avoid the disaster at Bellalt had failed miserably. Somehow, Cherrz had survived.  
  
"Thank you, domain For'lin. I think we all regret the loss of your daughter's life in the attack," Zorel began. He had to do this just right, or risk someone realizing he was more Devotee than Separatist. "First the strike on Linnal, the Battle of Bellalt, and now we are being singled out on our home planets. Our children are targeted!"  
  
That caused the dome full of Yuuzhan Vong Separatists to cry out the injustice of it all. Zorel kept back the sly smile that begged to curl on his scarless features. Oh, how he longed for the day he could once again don the ritualistic marks of his ancestry, marks that had become shunned by the Separatist but soon would be honored.  
  
"It would seem that we cannot go to the New Republic for help," he said into the microphone, his voice echoing with tones of betrayal. [I]What would these pawns of the Gods' ultimate goal do if they knew that it was the Devotee hierarchy that had planned these attacks, that had sent their brethren to honor with the Gods?[/I] "They are the ones who strike at us."  
  
"Break away from the infidels," one voice from the crowd cried out, one that Zorel had personally placed among the emotionally turbulent of his race. There were some who were quick to join the placed warrior among them, crying out their rage, while thumping their hands to their right breastplate in the sign of the old age.  
  
Others, those who had been prosperous in the New Republic, held back from taking sides, but their eyes darted to those of their quick-to-judge brethren, a nostalgic look crossing their sloped features. Those for whom the first wave of violence against the Yuuzhan Vong hadn't brought to mind a reunion with the Devotees, the true place of the Yuuzhan Vong, the second wave would.  
  
He patted the air with his hands, as if the gesture could sooth the troubled cacophony from the air. Again, he was aware how easily a misdirected word could throw off the tidal wave he wanted to resurrect in his people. "Let us not be hasty with our judgment," he replied in a soothing tone that was as soft as shimmersilk but as deadly as an amphistaff. "We have led good lives under the direction of the New Republic." He needed to play the part of Representative of the Separatists to the Senate, he had to have the trust of his people and that of the infidels in order to crush the infidels completely.  
  
As if he could tame the wild amphistaff, the crowd fell under his control, their arguments and counter arguments silencing under the slyly smooth tones of his voice. Once he was sure he had the attention of all those around him, he brought his hands down. "I suggest we give the New Republic an ultimatum. Divulge the names of those who are striking against us and allow us to take our justice. If they do not wish a war with our people, they will give them over without problem, but if it is true and we have been betrayed, we will make them pay."  
  
Cheers erupted from all quarters of the dome, filling Zorel with morbid pleasure. Zorel's ambition didn't extend to just uniting his people, no - he had visions of honor bestowed on domain Zorel.  
  
"We are still the warrior people we once were, tempered by the securities of the New Republic. But no more." Again, cheers erupted, even from those who had previously refrained from choosing sides.  
  
Zorel felt the rush of power he had over his people, the Separatists that would soon be the unionist faction of the Yuuzhan Vong a clear majority compared to the diminishing Separatist sect.  
  
When the time came for the brethren to come together, and once the infidels were swept from the galaxy, he would retake his place as leader of not only the Separatist Yuuzhan Vong, but of all those of his species that remained in the galaxy.  
  
[hr][/hr]  
  
Jacen felt his skin crawl as he watched the footage from the Separatist Yuuzhan Vong meeting and saw the way that Representative Zorel so easily guided his constituents; it brought bad memories of the senator of Kuat to mind. Yet, by his very words, all Representative Zorel wanted was justice, or so it would seem. There was something in his words, the way they had torn through the Yuuzhan vocal chords that made Jacen all the more suspicious.  
  
Although he had yet to learn the ability to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force, he had never doubted that they were a part of the energy field that simultaneously thrived from and generated life. Due to his capture during the war against the extragalactic travelers, he had a greater understanding of the Yuuzhan Vong, their hierarchy, and the devotee religion. The two galaxies' different approaches to the life had been the greatest breach between them. With time, and through the help of those who had once been labeled Shamed by the Gods, Jacen and the rest of the Jedi had managed to show the Separatists that honor could be found in saving life.  
  
In the beginning, the Separatists had agreed on a truce, knowing that their people would be destroyed, annihilated if they continued their pursuit to take over the galaxy for the Gods. An acquiescent approach, that Jacen was all too aware had been nothing more than a delaying tactic at first, the Yuuzhan Vong still clinging to the hope that they could somehow overthrow the New Republic and gain the galaxy they had been endowed.  
  
Gradually, the distinction was made between Separatist and Devotee, then a separation. It had always worried Jacen that the break had been so clean, especially from a people that had been so tenacious about designation of the Gods. His father would have deemed it, "This is too good to be true." Now it was proving to be a nightmare.  
  
"I don't need to explain to you how volatile the situation is,"Chief of State Kuantin Tiv's holoprojected presence said. Jacen probably would have been called to Mon Cal, despite the futileness of such a journey, and was thankful that Kuantin Tiv was a conservative in his government. To Jacen's left, Leia stirred against her husband's side. Jacen had invited his parents along to this conference with the Chief of State. Leia, who had once held the very position in the New Republic that Chief Tiv did, would have innumerable insights for Jacen later. Jacen had long since discovered the wisdom that his parents and uncles held was invaluable; at the time of the war he had begun to think he was the only one with the answers, had neglected the years of knowledge and hardship his parents, aunt, and uncle had gained. No longer.  
  
He motioned his mother forward, sensing her hesitation to speak in a meeting that had only requested his presence. She gave him a brief smile as she stepped forward. "Chief Tiv," she greeted.  
  
A moment of hesitation played on the Ardian's vine tattooed features. Leia Organa Solo had held so many titles in her life time, from Princess to Chief of State to Jedi Knight. Tiv and the ever-present pressure of politics had to select the right one. Jacen felt his mother's amusement, although it did not show one iota on her aging features. Uncle Luke's death and Ben's orphaned state made Jacen all the more appreciative of his parents, knowing he had almost lost them on a number of occasions.  
  
"Jedi Organa Solo," Tiv decided not even a breath after Leia's greeting. The hesitation had only been long in the understanding the Jedi held, Jacen's father probably hadn't noticed it.  
  
Chief Tiv had chosen well, by the acceptance that radiated off of Leia. "We are in threat of a civil war," she announced.  
  
The Ardian sighed heavily. "I think there is no doubt that Civil War is upon us. The allegations they have thrown out, that our own people have reneged on the treaty and are attacking Yuuzhan Vong can neither be denied or verified. Those ships that were reported to be at each attack were scheduled for annual routine maneuver exercises. I've spoken with Admiral Gyser Feld, and he has no record of infiltration into our military, our finest internal affairs are working on the problem even as we speak, but Feld is not optimistic." Chief Tiv ran a finger down the vine tatoo, an Ardian custom that Jacen had yet to identify. "Whoever got those transponder signals needed a large amount of knowledge to access the mainframe."  
  
Han, leaning on the table, his hands shoved into the pockets of his nearly threadbare Corellian blood-striped pants, asked, "You suspect someone on the inside?"  
  
Tiv leaned back in the conforming chair, lacing his razor-clawed fingers, and shook his head. "It's a possibility, but then again we may never know. I'd hoped to speak with the High Council about transferring Jedi into our internal affairs unit," the Chief of State's statement was more like a question.  
  
"As ambassador to the New Republic, I'm sure I can get those people for you," Jacen assured him. The High Council had already given him absolute jurisdiction in the matters of his position in the New Republic, and he himself could put together the team he wanted. "I'd also like to send my father along as well." Han blinked in surprise, and looked to his son questioningly.  
  
"Who better to infiltrate the New Republic than Han Solo?" Jacen continued. "We could arrange a disguise easily enough, most of the holos the tri-D's are showing are the older ones from the war days. You could lead the Jedi team, and not be suspected by any people Lord Nefarion might have on the inside."  
  
The cocksure grin that had made Han a well-holoed hero spread across the aging features. "You know I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around," he countered, giving Jacen a hard time despite the fact his son already knew he was in.  
  
Jacen grinned wryly back. "Just think of it as teaching an old nek new tricks."  
  
"What about the Yuuzhan Vong?" Leia said, bringing the topic to its ultimate concern.  
  
"I wish Anakin hadn't taken Dorsca Cherrz with him, his insight would be invaluable," Jacen said, yet again wondering at the recklessness of his younger brother. Yes, the old antagonism was still there, the differences that had pulled them apart fifteen years ago tearing them apart at present.  
  
Leia gave him a scolding look, one that still got a reaction out of him despite his thirty-four years of age. "It wasn't as though he was conspiring against you, Jacen. Corran sent domain Cherrz to him, he had his reasons." [I]And you shouldn't question your brother's motives,[/I] Jacen read from her tone.  
  
"Who is this Dorsca Cherrz?" Tiv asked, curiosity written in his albino eyes.  
  
The three Solos exchanged questioning looks before Jacen turned to answer the Chief of State. "You are aware of my brother's and my cousin's ability to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force?" Jacen asked. Tiv nodded that he did. "Well, while on Linnal, Anakin and Ben discovered that one of the Yuuzhan Vong was strong in the Force; later it was this Yuuzhan Vong that Master Horn brought to Coruscant and who revealed the plans for the next attack on Bellalt.  
  
"Master Skywalker -" and the pain of his uncle's death rushed up and hit him unexpectedly. Jacen swallowed. "Master Skywalker found this a great opportunity to see if we could train a Yuuzhan Vong Jedi."  
  
Chief Tiv leaned forward his elbows coming to rest on his desk. "Could domain Cherrz possibly be a spy for the Yuuzhan Vong?"  
  
Jacen had anticipated the question; the old fears of the Vong and their tactics were hard to erase from the minds of any of the indigenous members of the galaxy. The priestess Elan had made them all wary of supposed Vong defection. "Ben and Anakin both feel that he is genuine."  
  
"Yet, you say he can touch the Force, could he not mask his real intent?" Tiv pursued.  
  
[I]How can I convince him without revealing Ben's ability as a seer?[/I] Jacen questioned himself. From Ben's shared experience with domain Cherrz, when Nefarion's men had tried to stamp out the inconvenient Separatist aide, Dorsca had become above suspicion. "Ben and Anakin are not easily fooled, and my own 'vongsense' is telling me that he is trustworthy."  
  
That seemed to satisfy Chief Tiv for the time being, but it was only a temporary victory and Jacen knew it. It would take much more for the galaxy to trust the Yuuzhan Vong completely. Jacen believed, as had Luke, that Dorsca Cherrz was the key to building those relationships to security, frustrating Jacen all the more that Anakin had allowed the Vong student to tag along on his quest for Ben.  
  
"In the meantime," Jacen said, relying on the momentum he had already gained with the Chief of State, "I will prepare the team and send them, along with my father."  
  
"Just like the old days," Leia said, nudging Han in the ribs. But there was an awkwardness to the move, something that said there could never be anything like the old days, when Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia flitted from one side of the galaxy to the other, restoring freedom to a repressed galaxy.  
  
"I welcome your help, Captain Solo," Tiv said, then his flickering image turned back to Jacen. "Inform me of any further developments."  
  
"Of course, Chief Tiv," Jacen assured, bowing in customary Jedi fashion. The projected image of Chief Tiv flickered and dissipated.  
  
"What do you think?" Jacen asked his mother, as they settled into the small living area of his parents' apartment in the Temple.  
  
"He's playing it safe, or as safe as we can get with the accusations that are flying at the Republic. It was a good move to get your father involved, I wouldn't trust anyone else to lead the team," Leia said.  
  
Jacen jerked at the implication. "You think we've got an intruder in the Temple?"  
  
"All the signs point to it, junior," Han came into the conversation. "The Sith was waiting for Luke and his squad on Bellalt, knew how large our forces were to insure victory. We got lucky that Jag came in when he did. Lord Nefarion was after Ben, knew that he was a part of the team, and concocted a plot to get to him."  
  
"But the plan failed," Jacen countered, although there was no solace in the statement.  
  
"The whole thing stinks of the Sith," Han said. He caught Leia's attention. "Remember Bespin?"  
  
Leia's eyes went wide and her face paled. "Do you think Nefarion will try the same thing? Find bait for Ben to succumb to?"  
  
Han shrugged, somehow managing to show his worry in the nonchalant gesture. "You've read some of the archives from the Order. Palpatine was in a high ranking position, the Jedi answering to his whim, meeting with him a number of times." He splayed his hands to either side of him, giving Leia and Jacen a grimace. "They never suspected a thing until it was too late."  
  
Jacen frowned, stroking the course hairs of his beard. "So what are you saying? We can't go around accusing every Jedi of being in league with a Sith Lord."  
  
"That's what he would want," Leia agreed. "A wall of chaos to blind us from him."  
  
"I'm saying we keep our guard up. Trust only those that we're sure we can trust," Han said. "Because it wouldn't take much for Nefarion to find the right bait." He gave his son a pointed look. "Tahiri is vulnerable, a Sith agent could come snatch her away without much of a fight because she wouldn't want to hurt the baby. Ben would easily trade his life for Tahiri."  
  
Jacen cringed. Tahiri was nearly due to give birth to their little one, a girl if Ben's visions were true, and Jacen had no doubt that they were. It was one of the reasons he had been glad not to be called to Coruscant. He felt an irrepressible urge to run out and make sure his wife and child were safe in their quarters, but he remained seated. He would not give in to irrational fear. "We could forbid Ben from the trade-off if it came to that," Jacen suggested, his stomach roiling at the thought. But they couldn't give in to the Sith.  
  
A bark of harsh laughter came from Han. "You can't forbid a Skywalker anything," he remarked, and brought a hand out to grasp Leia's. The look that passed between husband and wife was of complete love and understanding.  
  
"That brings me to another issue we need to discuss. Once Anakin has brought Ben back, I think Mom should take up his training," Jacen suggested, mentally preparing himself for the onslaught from his parents.  
  
"Absolutely not," it came from both Solos.  
  
"The Council would back the decision," Jacen argued, pretending that this was the real issue.  
  
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Leia countered smoothly. "Luke wanted Anakin to train Ben, and train him he will." There was such a finality to the statement that Jacen almost stopped pressing his point. Almost.  
  
"Ben could very well be the 'Chosen One', and you're leaving his training into the hands of a virtual seventeen year old," Jacen stated evenly. He loved his brother, of course he loved Anakin, but this wasn't about love. This was about doing what was right. "Ben needs an older guide who can help him learn control of his gift."  
  
"Jacen, one day you and Anakin will realize what you are missing in each other," Leia said softly, ignoring Jacen's reasoning. "I just hope that when it happens it's not too late."  
  
[I]Cause one day one of you will be very gone, and you will wish that you could have said the things in your heart instead of the hateful words that came from your head,[/I] Ben's admonishment came to Jacen like a slap to the face. Here he was saying that Ben needed a guide for his own troubles when the boy was spouting such wisdom for Jacen's own.  
  
All these years Jacen had harbored Anakin's death in his heart, had been guilt-ridden by the arguments they had shared, the misunderstandings that had come so easily, and Jacen's own ability to stop the Yuuzhan Vong strikes that had taken away his baby brother. During those long years he had one minute cursed his brother for his recklessness, the many actions without thought, and the next had seen such great honor in such a young boy, one he thought at times he would like to emulate.  
  
Then, suddenly, after fifteen years of warring with himself, Anakin's ghost was made flesh before Jacen's eyes, regenerated by the very beings that had sought to take his life. Vergere, Jacen's short-time mentor, had rescued Anakin for a purpose- Vergere never did anything without meaning, even when that meaning seemed cruel and unreasonable. Had all those years of warring with Anakin and then within himself been the result of Jacen misinterpreting Anakin's purpose?  
  
If so, was it too late to mend the breach between them?  
  
He sighed as his parents continued to watch him. "I just want to do what's best for Ben."  
  
"We all do," Leia assured him. "For Luke's own reasons, he chose Anakin to determine what is best. Do you think that your uncle would make that judgment lightly?"  
  
"He was dying, Mom," Jacen protested. "He wanted to make sure that his little boy was taken care of."  
  
"I think you underestimate your uncle," Han said, and it was obvious that there was a tinge of anger in his father's voice. Han's loyalty to his brother-in-law, and brother in every way besides blood, could never be doubted or broken, it had only been reinforced by Luke's death.  
  
Jacen at this point was beginning to feel very pressed upon. [I]Why must they always take Anakin's side?[/I] he thought to himself, and immediately caught the childish thought. He remembered something his uncle had told him long ago. [I]Pride dictates sides, not truth.[/I] Was he letting his pride get in the way of his love for his brother, and if so, where would that lead them?  
  
Leia saw the heartache in Jacen's features, and her own softened. "We just want you two to reconcile," she said. "This angry breach will not help Ben, nor will it help anyone else. That includes you and Anakin."  
  
"I don't know how to fix it," Jacen admitted reluctantly.  
  
"Sometimes it's better to start at what you don't know," Leia replied. 


	11. He's an Old Friend of Mine

Chapter 11: He's An Old Friend of Mine  
  
Keorra Cereaslean was the first to spot the intruder inside her Employer's safehouse. He was a young man of her own age, perhaps sixteen or seventeen human standard years, his red-brown hair catching golden highlights from the harsh illumination banks that hummed overhead. He wasn't especially tall, but had a handsbreadth on her, his footwork was exquisitely sure and quiet, not disturbing any of the other employers that were immune to his presence. He had the walk of an assassin, which Keorra had seen many times before and was paid to make sure didn't get any further, without her, nearer her Employer's chambers. She knew that her Employer liked to see whom it was that had been hired to kill him, and Keorra planned to apprehend this intruder quickly and efficiently.  
  
Her own footwork was just as delicate as the intruder's, and he was at the moment oblivious to her presence. She was a lean girl, with hair so pale it was nearly white, and eyes that were the color of amethysts. Keorra smiled as she rested a hand on her blaster, her slender fingers working over the barrel to check the safety and flip it off. She closed her eyes for a moment, listening to the hum of her weapon, drawing on her Upoi Warrior training and catching the amount of energy that was left in the battery without needing to check the gauge.  
  
The way he moved, the absence of hesitation except for the cursory scanning of the corridors as he rounded a bend, told Keorra that he knew the place. [i]Floor plans?[/i] Keorra questioned herself as she continued her avid pursuit. If he had managed to get blueprints of the base's floor plans, that meant that she could have a conspirator in the assassination of her employer. She was more irritated by the fact that it would take extra effort to sniff out the traitor than the fact that there was a double danger to her and her Employer's business.  
  
Keorra went unnoticed all the way to her Employer's workstation; somehow the intruder knew that the boss would be in his office working at his desk. Who was this assassin? In the blink of an eye, Keorra did an assessment of the young man. He was dressed in a black unisuit that fit well to his muscled and compact form, yet there was a slight discomfort that Keorra got from the way he shifted in the clothing, as though the material irritated him. There was a slight smile on his boyish features that pulled the previous smile of concentration from his face, and she wondered at someone so young taking so much pleasure in an assassination attempt.  
  
When hired, Keorra had made it a point to memorize all the bounty hunters and assassins that were known in the New Republic; this boy didn't fit any of the descriptions or holophotos she had seen. However, he had a familiarity to him, as though she had seen him recently, but hadn't noticed him in passing.  
  
As he reached his hand up to the doorplate to activate the entry door to the boss's office, Keorra moved. She was like a pantra cat pouncing on her prey, her leap towards the young man long and sinuous, her hand reaching for her blaster as she leapt. He didn't jerk when she wrapped her arm around his neck in a headlock, nor did he grimace when she pointed the barrel of her blaster into his back, pushing it until she felt the resistance of his skin and then digging the muzzle into that flesh.  
  
"Don't move a millimeter, or I'll pump you full of energy," she hissed in his ear.  
  
He didn't tense, nor did he go slack in her hold, it was as though he was in control of his body at all times. "I think there's been a mistake," he said, in a cultured tone that carried a lilt of an accent Keorra didn't readily recognize.  
  
"I thought I told you to keep still," she said, urging him towards the door.  
  
"I wish I didn't have to do this," he murmured and he went from complete stasis to liquid motion.  
  
His arm bent as he wheeled around like a pinwheel, snatching her arm with the blaster in it before she had time to realize he was moving. Reflexively, she tightened her grip on the blaster, but his fingers came to her wrist like steel tips, delving into the skin until she lost all sensitivity in her arm, the blaster clattered to the ground, skittering away from them as if blown from a sharp gust of air. She made a fatal mistake then, she let the wonder of it all catch her eye, and she watched the blaster as it slid.  
  
That assassin moved with incredible agility and grace. The arm he held pinned in his grip swirled around her, coming to behind her back and he locked it there while he reached out, snatching the other arm, bringing it to join its pair. His hold was incredibly strong, and even as she tugged at it she knew that she couldn't get him to release her.  
  
Now it was his turn to whisper in her ear. "Can we be civil now?" he asked, and he pushed them towards the door with her unsuspecting Employer behind it.  
  
As they neared the door, she used his grip as a lever, and kicked outward with her feet, catching the plasteel wall and running up it as though gravity had ceased to exist in the room and was primarily based on her whims alone. The assassin had no choice but to break his grip or end up with each arm snapped in two. She used her momentum and back-flipped over him, landing exactly behind him. Instantly, she made a dash for her blaster, but again it skittered away, this time she caught the slight gesture of his fingers.  
  
[i]Jedi,[/i] she thought, and that cemented her resolve to best him.  
  
She snapped a roundhouse kick at his chin, hoping to distract him long enough to get to her blaster. He dodged it with ease, side-stepping to catch her ankle in both hands, and held her in the position. For a moment they stared at each other, and there was a glint in those green-blue eyes that sent a shiver through her. Pushing the thought out, she fleetingly wondered why he just didn't snap her ankle; he was in the right position to do so and it was something she would have done to best her opponent. Instead, he allowed her the opportunity to use his counterweight again, and she pushed off her free leg, sending it out for another strike at his head. At the last second she changed the direction, so it flew over her desired object and touched the ground on the other side long enough to spring it back in the air, the arch between her leg and foot catching the assassin on the side of his head.  
  
He rolled with the strike, taking her leg that was still in his grasp with him and together they fell to the floor; the assassin under control, Keorra not so lucky. Her back hit the ground hard, forcing the air out of her chest. He crouched over her as Keorra was held in place by his vice-like hold.  
  
"As much as I enjoy this sparring contest, perhaps you can tell me who you are?" the assassin asked, congenial.  
  
She tried to maneuver out of his grasp, but he was far too skilled. "Shouldn't I ask you the same question, assassin?" she grunted, maintaining the struggle despite its futility.  
  
A crease came between his ruddy brown eyebrows, confusion filling his features. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of the boss's door. Together, they turned to face the sound.  
  
"What in blazes is going on?" Talon Karrde roared as he entered the corridor. His dark eyes locked on the two combatants and a smile came over his mustached face. "Ben, my boy, what are you doing here?"  
  
The assassin, Ben, smiled cheekily at Karrde, but his eyes lacked luster. "I thought I would surprise you, Uncle Talon." His head cocked at Keorra. "However, I got a little side-tracked. Do you know her?"  
  
[i]Uncle Talon?[/i] Keorra questioned in her mind, searching her Employer for any sort of answer for this strange behavior. Obviously, this Ben wasn't an assassin, especially if he called Karrde 'uncle' and addressed him by his first name. Keorra had never known anyone to call the boss by his first name.  
  
Karrde scowled at the younger man. "Ben, you know you're the only one who could ever get away with calling me that."  
  
"My mother taught me to take advantages when I see them," Ben answered.  
  
Keorra decided that she had been ignored for far too long. "Am I to continue to listen to this conversation flat on my back, or could you please release your grip?" There was little graciousness in her voice.  
  
The assumed assassin looked up at Karrde questioningly, his hold on her not loosening until Karrde nodded a go-ahead. Indignantly, Keorra pushed Ben off of her, and he seemed amused by her anger. Ben rolled to his feet as though he were a sapling tree snapping back from the wind. He offered her a hand up, which she snubbed with a twist of her head and snapped to her feet with as much grace as he had. This only increased his amusement. Keorra glared at him.  
  
"Keorra Cereaslean," Karrde introduced, "this is Ben Skywalker. Ben, Keorra."  
  
Skywalker? No wonder she had recognized him, she had seen the press conference Jedi Leia Organa Solo had made concerning her brother's death, and had caught a glimpse of his holo on the tri-D report. That was why the light did not reach his eyes.  
  
Forcefully, solemn in the wake of her baleful glare, Ben Skywalker gave a half bow towards her. "It's a pleasure to meet anyone who can give me such an exercise in hand-to-hand combat."  
  
Exercise? Except for that hit to the head, which she was beginning to suspect he'd allowed, he had dominated the whole battle. And Keorra with a blaster in hand! "The pleasure was all yours," she snapped. She didn't care what Karrde would think of her rudeness, knowing his proclivity towards manners, even to their enemies, let alone their friends and associates.  
  
Reaching out a hand, Keorra's blaster leaped through the air and smacked into the palm of Ben Skywalker. He offered the small hand blaster to her. "It's a good make, old Blastech minicharge if I'm not mistaken."  
  
"That's right," she said, refusing to give up the harsh tone in her voice, begrudgingly respecting that he had been able to identify what would have been construed by others as archaic.  
  
"Come into my office, Ben," Karrde said, guiding his young surrogate nephew through the door he had just emerged from. He deigned to notice his personal aide and bodyguard. "Keorra, make sure we're not disturbed."  
  
"Yes boss," she muttered, and took up post outside the door, trying to let go of her complete humiliation. No one had ever bested her with such ease, her training with Upoi had conditioned her to such a state that her body was like a weapon itself.  
  
What she had neglected to do in the battle was listen to the hum of her opponent; he was as much a weapon as her blaster or the Jedi lightsaber. It was one of the basic rules of a Upoi warrior - to gauge the tone, the hum which a weapon worked on. A Jedi was a honed weapon in the flesh, but a weapon that would choose not to fire if it could help it. Perhaps that was why she had such a hard time catching his hum.  
  
Replaying the whole scene in her mind, she cursed her stupidity in not realizing that he was a Jedi sooner; his hesitance in breaking her ankle, the way he had just disarmed her instead of turning her weapon on her, were all signs she should have noted. She remembered the look in his eyes that had set her shivering, her body had recognized it without her mind following suit. Why had she been so thrown off during that battle?  
  
She needed to do something, acting as sentry for Karrde wasn't going to help her release the pent-up frustration. Snatching her comlink and thumbing it on, she called, "McCal?"  
  
"Yes, Keo," came the response of her next-in-command in security.  
  
"I need two sentries outside of the boss's office, he's in with... a client," Keorra instructed.  
  
There was a pause. "Why aren't you standing guard?"  
  
"Cause I've got better things to do," she growled. "Like finding me a new second-in-command if I don't see two of your guys at this door within a quarter of an hour."  
  
"Alright, alright," McCal said with a laugh. "Any special instructions?"  
  
"Just make sure he isn't disturbed," she ordered, and signed off without a farewell. It was all she could do to keep from charging for the exercise room and working off her frustration - and preparing for another rematch with Ben Skywalker.  
  
Talon Karrde was no longer in the smuggling business, had officially retired since the Smuggler's Alliance had been disbanded after the Yuuzhan Vong war; however, there were still those who sought after the huge information mine that Karrde held. From the profits of his respectable and his slightly-less-respectable businesses, he had chosen an asteroid planet to bring his business to. Convenient for Ben, it was incredibly close to the Naboo system, and he knew that Uncle Talon would not reveal his presence here.  
  
Ben smiled softly at his uncle as he sat on Uncle Talon's desk. "You do pick the most interesting of places to make your home base, Uncle Talon," he pointed out, as he picked up a holo picture of himself as a baby with his mother and father simultaneously holding him. Instantly, he put it down, composing his features to mask the pain that the holo had brought.  
  
"So what brings you here, my boy?" Karrde asked, settling into his conforming chair behind the desk.  
  
"I need your help," Ben admitted.  
  
That piqued Uncle Talon's curiosity and he stroked his goatee. "In what, may I ask?"  
  
"The Jedi High Council is looking for me, I don't want to be found," Ben answered simply.  
  
"And why is that?" Karrde continued.  
  
Uncomfortable, Ben dodged the question. How could he explain that he had left the Order because he would destroy everything he loved? "Who's this Keorra Cereaslean?" he asked instead, cocking his head toward the door where he could sense the nearly white-haired girl. "She's pretty good."  
  
"As good as your mother?" Talon queried.  
  
Ben noted that the question was meant to make him uncomfortable, ruffle him into a state where he might slip and tell Uncle Talon the real point to his visit. He returned his surrogate uncle's stare evenly. He would not slip. "No one was as good as Mother."  
  
Karrde leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head and giving off the lackadaisical persona of the smuggler he had once been. "She's a runaway. Trained by the Upoi to be a weapon, I hired her because she reminded me of your mother. A little sentimental, I know, but she is a very effective body guard."  
  
"What happened to Shada?" Ben asked, turning the tables on Karrde, knowing that Shada Dukal, his previous bodyguard, was a touchy subject. [i]Two can play at this game, Uncle Talon.[/i]  
  
"Shada's still a part of the organization, she's now my public representative," Karrde said, mimicking Ben's previous deadpan tone. "She tours around the galaxy, making sure our customers are content."  
  
"Needed the space, huh?" Ben said, adding a teasing tone to his inflection. "Did she ask for a final commitment? Why don't you just marry her?" The young seer was well aware of the relationship that had grown between Uncle Talon and his bodyguard, and that relationship made his usual calm Uncle Karrde as jumpy as a skittish Tauntaun.  
  
"And give Han Solo the satisfaction? I think not, my boy." Karrde scrutinized him from under heavy eyebrows. "You're dodging my initial subject, though. Why would the Council be after you?"  
  
Ben swallowed against the lump in his throat. "My father is dead, Uncle Talon." It taxed him to have to tell Karrde this; it was his punishment for not being good enough, for not being fast enough to stop each of his parents' deaths, to have to relay the news to their friends and family.  
  
"I know, my boy," Karrde replied softly.  
  
Blue-green eyes were shot with liquid steel as he snapped his attention to his surrogate uncle. "You know? How?"  
  
"Your aunt made the announcement the other morning," Karrde answered sympathetically.  
  
[i]The morning of the disturbance of the Force,[/i] Ben thought. He had yet to completely dispel the chill that had accompanied so many deaths, it was another ghost that clung to him. "I had hoped to tell you before that," Ben muttered, again his hand coming to rest on the holo of his family.  
  
He lifted it to eye level. Of its own volition, his finger came up to caress the lines of his mother's, then his father's, faces. They looked so young, much younger then his own memories allowed. Mara had just been healed of the Yuuzhan Vong disease that she had battled to keep from her unborn baby, and her skin was more sallow than usual, her cheeks slightly sunken in, but these features were blotted out by the brightness of her smile as she looked down at Ben and then to her husband.  
  
No one understood more than Ben how much that smile meant.  
  
"I miss them," he said, forgetting for the moment that his uncle was there, that he wasn't alone in the room and that Talon Karrde could see the real grief on his features.  
  
For a moment, he used the same technique he had on Anakin when his cousin had first realized that he had lost fifteen years of his life to the stasis of the [i]oombassl[/i], and reproduced the past in his own mind so it was as though he were that little baby again, clasped in the love and arms of his parents. The phantom hands of his parents touched him, and he could almost hear their breathing, the quiet words of encouragement that had been passed between them, the adoration they had felt for this new little life in a time of such sorrow. At the time of his infancy, Ben was a sign of rebirth in the galaxy. How ironic that he would soon become the sign of death.  
  
"You meant everything to them," Uncle Talon said, coming into his thoughts and obliterating the image with his words.  
  
[i]That's why Dad let me live, that's why he would allow the darkness inside of me to continue,[/i] Ben thought painfully. Luke had brought his own father back from the Dark Side and into the Light. His perception had been based on this miraculous event so much, that he couldn't believe that Ben's visions were engraved in the stone of the Force, that his little boy couldn't become a monster. Ben knew better than that, knew that he was bound to his fate from the visions because they had already come true.  
  
[i]Then why are you here?[/i] Ben asked himself. [i]Why did you come here in the hopes of avoiding the inevitable?[/i] Mainly because he couldn't disbelieve his father.  
  
Did that make him or his father weak, weak to face the truth of the Force, denying it because their heart wished it? If Dad had allowed Ben's death, he would have found his freedom from the truth of the future. Ben had always been taught that compassion was the greatest strength, that it was only dangerous when it took you to passion beyond control, but he found that the very center of his beliefs was being knocked away by his visions. What he was, he would not remain, and what he would become was the thing of nightmares.  
  
"They had grander obligations," Ben said in a jaded tone. "I never wanted to come between them and their duty to the galaxy." Where was this spite coming from?  
  
"Must it be one or the other?" Uncle Talon questioned.  
  
And that was the ultimate question. Could love and duty be reconciled? He used to think so. He hadn't gone over to the Dark Side either time he had seen his parent struck down, although he had come close with his father. Nefarion had killed Luke to get to Ben, and that knowledge only weighed on the young seer more. Had his father broken duty for love? Or had he wanted to save his son whom he thought was the 'Chosen One'? Either way, Ben couldn't help but admire Luke's sacrifice.  
  
[i]Whether I like it or not, I will face my destiny. I just hope that I do so with as much strength as you,[/i] he had said this to his father shortly after his and Anakin's rescue from Linnal. Was he a coward now to hide away from his destiny?  
  
Ben shrugged, unable to answer his uncle's question. "I used to think that there didn't have to be. Now I'm not so sure."  
  
"Ah, Ben," Talon said, rising from his chair and coming to rest a hand on his surrogate nephew's shoulder. "I'm sorry these things had to happen to you."  
  
"Thanks, Uncle Talon," Ben said, some of his earlier teasing rising up in the use of Karrde's first name.  
  
The one-time smuggler chuckled. "Ben, it will be good to have you here. Alright, I will let you stay for a provisionary period. Your parents would probably ring my neck for allowing you to neglect your training, but I can see you need time to reorient yourself. Would you like anything to eat or drink? Keorra could bring anything you'd like."  
  
Ben felt an inner lightening at the old familiar routine that had returned. Whenever he and his parents had visited Karrde, the one-time smuggler had practically forced every luxury upon the spartan Jedi. "I don't think I'm her favorite person at the moment. Who knows what she might slip into anything I might order?"  
  
"Oh, don't let her get to you. Like I said, she reminds me very much of your mother when she first came to work for me. Very isolationist, a tongue that was sharper than a vibroshiv. Which brings me to a different subject. I have a gift for you," Uncle Talon said, returning to behind his desk and opening electronic seals to access his drawer files.  
  
Ben straightened and slid off the edge of his surrogate uncle's desk. "A gift?" he questioned.  
  
"Well, it was actually for your mother, but I couldn't gain all the information before her death, so I continued it for you," Karrde answered as he rummaged through a stack of datacards. "Your mother wanted to know where she came from, wanted a history to give to you. She asked me if I could do a little searching, and I've finally compiled some possibilities."  
  
"Obi-Wan Kenobi was my mother's father," Ben announced.  
  
Karrde stared at him. "That was one of the avenues, yes."  
  
"It's [i]the[/i] avenue," Ben corrected softly. "From the blood records that the Old Order kept, we matched it to my mother's and to mine."  
  
"I always said you would make a great information broker," Karrde replied, drawing one card from the stack and handing it to Ben. "Since you have a narrowing, you should look up Olocia and Aerco Jade, they're your mother's aunt and uncle."  
  
Ben accepted it as though it was the rarest of jewels. "Do you have any information on my grandmother?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. Her name was Zara Valinor, a freedom fighter in her own right. Funnily enough, she began in the [i]ysalamiri[/i] business, and had an avid hatred for the Jedi. Sounds like Mara and her mother had a lot in common," Karrde said with an amused cock of his eyebrow. "Anyway, it's all in that datacard."  
  
Ben looked at the datacard as though it could spring wings and suddenly flit out of his hands. A connection to his mother he had never dreamed to discover. He felt a pang that his mother never got to know the truth of her existence while she lived on this plane. "Thanks, Uncle Talon."  
  
"Your parents were both dear friends of mine, much to my chagrin," Karrde said with a chuckle, but a moment later he seemed lost in the nostalgia of the past. With a shake of his head he snapped himself into the present. "Come on, let's find you a spare room."  
  
Walking out of Karrde's office, they nearly ran over two sentry guards. Karrde frowned. "Where's Cereaslean?"  
  
"She had some things to take over," one of them answered, obviously the higher ranked in Karrde's organization. "She seemed in a right snit, boss."  
  
"Did she head for the training rooms?" Karrde asked.  
  
The guard nodded. "That was the direction she stomped off in, sir."  
  
"Thanks, McCal," Karrde said. Then gestured to Ben. "This is Ben Skywalker. He has full access and full security, do you understand?"  
  
For a flash of an eye McCal's eyes grew wide, but the reaction was instantly smothered. "Whatever you say, boss."  
  
"I'll inform Cereaslean as much," Karrde said, and began to lead Ben through the corridors, waving off the sentries as they began to follow. "The fools. I'm with a Jedi and they think I need protection," Uncle Talon murmured to him. "It's the setbacks of a new staff. Shada took most of them with her. She's also got Ghent and the more important members of the organization."  
  
"So what really keeps you from marrying her?" Ben pressed the subject again. "It can't be that you wish to avoid Uncle Han gloating."  
  
Uncle Talon shrugged. "It's an adventure I was never sure I wanted to take."  
  
"But you love her. I can feel that much. What does Shada think?"  
  
"Why all these questions about my love life?" Karrde asked.  
  
Ben reached inward for the answer. "I'd like to see something happy."  
  
"We'd probably end up killing each other," Karrde remarked. "What about you? Any girls at the Temple that catch your eye? Or what about Keorra? That certainly was an interesting position I caught the two of you in."  
  
Ben gaped at him. "She was trying to kill me. I was only trying to save my neck," he protested. Sometimes he felt that Uncle Talon was more like a brother who couldn't help but tease him about every innocent thing. Sometimes it had been easier to talk to Talon Karrde than his own parents, knowing that there was no judgment. "Believe me, she'd rather kick me to the dirt."  
  
"That's how your mother felt when she first met your father. The Skywalkers often fall in love with people that take them to the brink of insanity?" Karrde questioned.  
  
"I think I'd rather keep my wits," Ben replied wryly.  
  
Talon Karrde threw an arm around his young surrogate nephew. "Finally, a Skywalker after my own heart." 


	12. No Disintegrations

Chapter 12: No Disintegrations

Jaina was tired. She could feel it in every inch of her flesh. She'd been flitting from one part of the galaxy to another for the last few weeks, distracting the few stragglers of the High Council team that had completely missed Ben and had been trailing her and Valin instead. Along with the rest of the Order, she mourned the death of one of her colleagues; this one especially close, for he had been there with her at the Academy that had been on Yavin IV before the Yuuzhan Vong destroyed it. Valin had been a few years younger than her, but she had found comfort in him after Anakin's supposed death. Anakin had risked much to save the children of the Academy, and Valin was one of those he had gone to rescue. Jaina had always seen a reflection of her brother in those children. Now that they had Anakin back, it didn't make it any the less hurtful that Valin had been targeted, and did make it all the more frustrating that it had been used to advance a plan by the Sith Lord that had taken her Uncle's life.

She could feel Jag and their children waiting just outside the Temple's docking bay, patiently waiting for her to gain the energy to exit her X-wing. Even the thought of Aunecah and Tadeo's brilliant faces could not muster the strength she needed. She wasn't sure she could go through another war - she had children to raise, a husband she loved. It was the first time that Jaina had ever realized how much it had cost her mother to leave her and her brothers every time another usurper cropped up. For years she had harbored anger towards her mother; now, she wondered how she could have ever missed the pain.

With a long hissing sigh, Jaina popped the hatch of her X-wing's cockpit and felt the rush of air as the space decompressed. No good would come from her dwelling on the negativity in her life, she had to press forward with the choices she had made, the weight that her uncle had put upon her the day of her knighting, when he had called her 'the Sword of the Jedi'.

She felt that she could sympathize with Ben and Anakin in their desires to refute the title of 'Chosen One'. Once you took that upon yourself, that title defined you. Jaina had to be sharper than a vibroshiv, pointed, unyielding, but at the same time she had to have the gentleness of a leather handle, the duality of sword and pommel. If Anakin or Ben were to declare that they were indeed the 'Chosen One', the weight of that responsibility would follow them for the rest of their lives. That same weight had destroyed their grandfather, a weight of pride and arrogance that had slowly chipped away at the kind boy Jaina had read of in reports from the old Order.

Stripping off her gloves and her helmet, she tossed them into the cockpit before the hatch could close back down, and strode purposefully to the warmth her family provided her.

Aunecah greeted her with a huge smile, running up and engulfing her legs in a stranglehold that threatened to topple them both over, and Jaina was forced to grab her daughter and throw her up into her arms. It was one of the few times her reserved daughter showed any public show of affection, especially if Jaina or Jagged were away for a long while. Finding the energy she had lacked in the X-wing, Jaina smiled adoringly on her daughter.

"I don't think you really missed me," Jaina teased, knowing that Aunecah would take it seriously.

"Yes, I did," Aunecah said, and squeezed Jaina's neck to the point where her breath came shallowly, but she loved the warmth in her daughter's hug.

Looking over at Tadeo, Aunecah's three-year-old brother, Jaina felt her smile turn down into a frown. Tad's baby-fleshed face was sullen, and he leaned on his father's shoulder apathetically, cradled in Jag's arms. Still carrying Auni, Jaina came over and ran a hand through Tad's dark hair. "What's the matter, little guy?" she asked, even as she turned concerned eyes to Jag.

"Did Momma find Benny?" Tad asked.

"No, Uncle Anakin is going to find Ben," Jaina assured her son, admonishing herself for not remembering the unique connection that her son and cousin had. A connection that she often found herself feeling jealous of. A bond that Ben had run away from, terrified that the visions of darkness would destroy them all.

"Bad man is going to hurt Benny?" Tad said.

Not for the first time Jaina wondered if Tad had Ben's ability as a seer. It would certainly explain the empathy they had for one another, or was it because of that empathy that Tad could pick up on the danger that Ben seemed to wear like a flight jacket? Her little boy had seen that Ben had been sick on Linnal before they had even reached the planet. Was he making another prediction?

"What bad man?" Jaina persisted. She didn't think she could take it if Tad was a seer like Ben. Yes, she wanted her children to be trained as Jedi, but she had already seen what a vision could do to those who were gripped by them. Ben had been convinced of their fruition, and was now even afraid to be with his family. Of course, it didn't help any that Ben Skywalker had been made an orphan at such a young age.

Tad's elfin features scrunched up in concentration and his green eyes fell closed, something Jaina had noted that he also took from Ben. "He's wearing plates and helmet," Tad told them after a moment.

"Plates?" Jag questioned.

It took a while for it to snap into place in Jaina's mind. "Armor."

"Bounty hunter?" Jag speculated. "You think the Sith has put a bounty on Ben?"

Jaina nodded, not wanting to scare her children with any further details. "What's a Skywalker without a large price on their head?" she joked, and reached out a hand to tickle first Auni, then Tad.

Much to her relief, Tad giggled and tried to evade his mother's seeking fingers. "Or a Solo, for that matter?" Jag replied, a wicked glint in his eye.

Jaina knew that glint, it was always there when he had planned something intimate for her welcome home. She hated to disappoint him, but she had to speak with her parents, find out how much information they could gather before the bounty hunter could pounce on Ben; that was if they could find Ben in time to stop it.

"We need to speak to my parents," she said, as he flung an arm over her shoulder and they walked the halls of the Jedi Temple. There was no outward sign of his disappointment, but she felt it nonetheless, and gave his waist a squeeze where she had looped her own arm through.

"Your father isn't here," Jag announced. "He took a Jedi Team to Mon Calamari to discover if there's a leak in the system there. Someone managed to get the transponders on a large number of our ships, ones that were scheduled for battle maneuvers. It's like they know us inside and out."

"The Sith are known for cleverly bringing down their enemies," Jaina remarked, feeling a shudder she couldn't repress run its way up her spine. She had not been an avid scholar of the old Order's archives, but she knew as well as any in the Order how deftly Palpatine had manipulated the Jedi of the Old Order, how he could stand in their midst and even the highest of them all, Master Yoda, could not feel the darkness waiting to be unleashed. "What about Mom?"

"She stayed. Tahiri's pregnancy is drawing to a close, our little niece will be here in no time, and you know your mother. She has always been protective of Tahiri since Anakin's... supposed death," Jag said, shrugging at trying to explain the fifteen-year absence of her brother.

Jaina looked up at him, noting the tiny lines that were beginning to form on his face. They were no longer the young hotshot pilots they had been when they had first met. He was no longer so formal, she a little less likely to blast everything in sight. She cherished their relationship, the way they had rubbed off one another, to make them seem more of a pair. When they had argued about her tearing off to save Ben and Anakin on Linnal, she had feared that it was the first nick in an upcoming rift. His surprising arrival on Bellalt had both filled her with relief and joy, but also with hope for their future.

Jacen had pegged it right when he had claimed that their relationship mimicked her parents'. She and Jag needed to give off ion trails every so often to keep their marriage secure. Tahiri and Jacen's marriage was so much different, but she wouldn't have it any other way with Jag.

Leaning closer to him, she asked, "Do you mind if we go there first? I'd rather just get it over with."

He smiled down at her, giving the half wink she had come to love so much. "I was just about to suggest that."

"You know, Jag, I think you've been spending too much time with my father," she teased, catching the wry Solo tone in her husband's voice.

He just chuckled and led them through the Temple corridors. Although the Jedi had just begun to move into the Temple, it was already beginning to feel like a home for Jaina, a place for respite and peace from the haphazard way the galaxy ran itself. Her uncle had been wise in his decisions when constructing the building, the little touches he had added, from the gardens that represented as many of the worlds of the galaxy to the ancient symbols he had found from the old Jedi records carved into the stone.

Jaina's gaze fell down to her side, where Auni was holding her hand tightly, comfortably moving through the corridors. It was the first home for Jaina's daughter as well, a place for the Jedi to finally meet and be called together.

Luke Skywalker had built this Temple with the desire for it to stand throughout the time of not only his son, but the sons and daughters of many generations of Jedi. He had wanted a place for them to meet. Her uncle, who had often been accused of paying far too much attention to the here and now, had shown that he had also looked to the future.

Taking a deep breath, Jaina smelled the sweet fragrance of the nearby gardens, which held many of the now endangered flora of Alderaan, and other worlds that had been destroyed. It was for this reason that her mother had chosen these quarters, to smell the life of what now was dead.

Coming to her parents' quarters, she smiled as Leia instantly engulfed her, Jag, and their children in hugs, respectively. The long years of war had made Leia more appreciative of those loved ones she had left. Alderaan and the Civil war had made her hard, Anakin's supposed death and the Yuuzhan Vong had made her real.

Jaina hid a smile as Jag did his customary straightening of his tunic after such shows of affection. Her husband had come a long way from his Chiss upbringing, but there were still a few things that were as inborn to him as instinct.

With a little coaxing, they got Tad to follow Auni, his older sister grasping his hand gently, into a side room where Leia had kept toys from when the twins and Anakin had been young, the boy's worry about his cousin Benny keeping him hesitant for a moment. Jaina racked her mind to see if she remembered such a hesitancy in Ben, a foreknowledge that went beyond the normal visions of the Force. Yes, even as she recalled her cousin's younger years, incidents stuck out at her.

Ben had always had a proclivity to explore, but it was never in just a random area, his ventures always had a direction. Luke and Mara had nearly gone insane the first few years they lived together as a family. There had always been an aging to Ben, an understanding that went beyond his years. Yet he had developed like any other child, learning a language, despite it being Sullustan instead of Basic, at the normal age of development.

Tadeo had the old Solo charm, and was only three years old, but she could see some similarities between her son and cousin that continued to frighten her.

"Tad's had another dream," Jaina announced, once they had sat down in the living area of the quarters. She refused to call them visions. "He says that a 'bad man' is going to hurt Ben. Jag and I think it might be a bounty hunter. I know our contacts aren't what they were, but do you think Lando might know if there's an open or not-so-open bounty on Ben?"

Leia gnawed at the inside of her check, pulling it visibly inward on her aged thin face. "Lando and Tendra still tend to dab in the less respectable areas of the galaxy. It's a good shot." She sighed, running a hand through the hair she had kept short from the Vong war days. For the first time, Jaina noted the dark age spots that were beginning to show on her mother's porcelain skin, the wrinkles that did nothing to detract from her beauty, striking home that her parents were no longer young, that she was just as likely to lose her mother and father as Ben had.

"This Sith will stop at nothing," Leia said, cutting into Jaina's thoughts. It was always a startling experience to realize that your parents weren't eternal. "I only hope that Anakin can find Ben in time. I've got the feeling it's far from over."

The ship was the shape of an elongated sphere that had been smashed in on one side, where now roosted banks of engines that glowed with the intensity of a miniature sun. It slightly expanded at the head of the ship, the only indication as to where the cockpit was housed, where two stabilizer fins jutted out like miniature arms. With deft precision, it negotiated through the asteroid field that surrounded it, making adjustments that were tiny in the expanse of space.

Archan Slayyer, once Charo Fett, was behind the controls, his dark hair and eyes lit by what little light came from his ship's control panel. He was humanoid, his skin an olive color that he had inherited from his Twi'lek mother. Due to the genetic anomalies of a cloned father and an alien mother, Archan had no lekku dangling from the bush of curly dark hair, but two nubs that were hidden behind the mass of hair.

To have no lekku was to be shamed amongst the Twi'lek, you were a being without a gender, a hunk of flesh lumped together to form an aberration. At the age of twelve, Archan had gone off to seek his absent father, Boba Fett, who had survived the maw of the great pit of Carkoon, and to abandon his shame.

Without revealing his identity, Archan had become a type of sidekick for his father, learning the tricks of the trade that he now fully embraced. When Boba had finally announced that he was ready to hunt alone, Archan had slipped his vibroshiv through his father's unsuspecting back. Then he had changed his name, becoming a phantom, the one man who had been able to kill the invincible Boba Fett. As his father's life dwindled, the vibrancy in his eyes flickering like banked embers, Archan had uttered the words that he had waited so long to say. "Goodbye, Father."

It was over a standard year ago since Archan had set off on his own as the Slayyer. He never wanted for jobs - assassinations, mainly. He was on such a job at the moment, hired to kidnap Ben Skywalker and bring him to the planet Linnal. Archan had no indication of who his employer was, just that he had large amounts of credits and was giving them freely enough to allow Archan several months of the luxury he had grown accustomed to. The go-between that had negotiated the price had been a hunched over ex-Imperial who had been missing most of his right arm, the limb cut off just above the elbow.

He flexed his muscles in the cramped space of the cockpit, stretching them until he felt the sting of atrophy leave. Skywalker had proven to be elusive; Archan had followed what he had thought to be Skywalker for nearly two weeks before he realized that it was his target's cousin, running off an old transponder. For a while, he had thought to be at a dead end. Remembering the teachings of his father, Archan had sought out the local watering holes on a number of planets. Cantinas, nightclubs, and taverns that he knew he could count on for information leading him to his quarry.

It was only a few days after his discovery of Jaina Solo that Archan had stumbled into the right Cantina. One of the first lessons Boba had taught his secret son was that any informant became cheap when plastered with enough Corellian ale, and once Archan had found his man, an old smuggler by the name of Morado, it became readily obvious that the man would not be able to hold his liquor.

He had been a member of the smuggler's alliance, Morado had been all too willing to explain, working with greats like Talon Karrde as well as Mara Jade. At the mention of Jade's name, Ben Skywalker's mother, Archan had plied the pressure on just enough to keep the bumbling fool talking. It was eighteen Corellian Twists before Morado let slip where Talon Karrde's secret base lay.

The proximity to Naboo, where Skywalker was said to have been identified, was all too revealing to the Bounty Hunter. Sometimes the best place to hide was the obvious one. For whatever reason Skywalker didn't want to be found, and that meant fewer obstacles to get around in snatching the Jedi, such as his family and the rest of the blasted Order.

A smile crossed the olive green face as his lifescan readings picked up large life forms on one of the more craggy asteroids. Talon Karrde had always made his roost in the oddest of places, but always with tactical significance. Five years after the death of the Emperor, the literal destruction of the Empire, and the rise of Jedi Luke Skywalker, Karrde had settled on Myrkr, a planet infested with the snake-like creatures that could repel the Force within a certain amount of space, a standard meter. It had been a failsafe that had proven to be useless; Karrde had soon become connected to the Jedi, his second-in-command eventually marrying the galaxy's most reputable Jedi Master.

Karrde's current base inside the Vorvexan asteroid ring, served the same purpose, if against different beings. The information stored in Karrde's facility could probably make or break a number of systems adjoined to the Republic, and even the higher echelons of the Republic feared the information that Karrde might have. Very few would dare try to navigate the Vorvexan asteroid ring, and to Archan's knowledge only a handful of assassins had managed to get to Karrde's base. However, Archan was above even the highest of those skilled hunters.

He would have his prey.

I'm getting too old for this sort of thing, Han Solo thought as he stepped off the transport that Chief of State Tiv had sent for him and that had brought him and his Jedi team from Coruscant to the new center of the galaxy, Mon Calamari. He was dressed in Yosorian robes of state, and was missing his usual white shirt that buttoned on the sides, his Corellian bloodstripe pants, and the black vest that completed the look he had worn since his smuggling days. When were those days again?

His hair had grown from salt and pepper to the white of sea clouds, somehow becoming a physical agreement to his statement. The lines at his eyes had grown deeper as his skin had started to loosen. However, there was still very much the smuggler in Han Solo. You could see it in his stance, hip slightly hitched, with his thumbs stuck inside his pants pockets, it was in the way he walked, a swagger for a retired pirate, and the glint in his eye when he smiled cockily. That old pirate had changed much.

As he looked back at the Jedi team disembarking, he snorted and looked heavenward. Well, some things have changed, he thought wryly. The Han Solo that used to frequent cantinas such as the one where he had met Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker would never have dreamed of one day leading a group of Jedi Knights on an investigation, considering his lack of Force-ability.

He looked at his team, the mix of faces that he had become acquainted with during the time at the Temple. Luke had wanted to integrate Jedi and non-Jedi into the Temple, considering that half the High Council was not able to touch the Force, and realizing that the separation between the Jedi and those who could not touch the life-giving and life-generating energy field had been one of the key factors in the destruction of the old Order.

Han had been about to set orders and coordinate the group of eight Jedi Knights when his thoughts turned to his deceased brother-in-law. The pause came with a hitch in his throat. Chewie had been bad, it had taken months for Han to come to some sort of terms with it, and years to finally accept it, but Luke... Luke was never supposed to die.

The old Corellian had always thought that out of him, Leia, and Luke, he would be the first to go. Luke and Leia had survived so many difficult obstacles, had breezed through so many near deaths, that he had almost enshrined them as invincible. When Mara had died, Han had felt guilty with the relief that it hadn't been Leia who had joined the Force, seeing how badly it had rocked Luke and Ben. The guilt continued again with Luke's death.

Han had seen Anakin's revival as a gift from the Force, a gift to set right all the wrongs he had placed on his youngest son. He didn't know if he could have taken it if Anakin had been taken from them again, and yet Han could feel the imbalance that Luke's death had created. Luke had been fond of saying that it wasn't only those strong in the Force who could feel its workings, that it guided everyone, and that it was the beings of the galaxy's choice whether to follow it or not. Just recently Han was beginning to see how it had guided him through his life. He would never have met a princess from Alderaan without it.

"There's our delegation," one of the younger Knights, a tow-haired boy that reminded Han shockingly of Luke, pointed out, his head jerking towards the military aids that Chief Tiv had sent their way.

The transport had taken them to a secluded area of Mon Calamari, the docking bay bobbing up and down as the repulsors below reacted to the ever-shifting sea. Han had never quite got his sea legs, he preferred a sea of stars as opposed to the rocking and bucking he could feel under his feet. He gave his team a cursory look, roving his eyes up and down their bodies to make sure that the concealed lightsabers under the shipsuits were not identifiable, and looking for any signs that might tip off the keen observer that they were Jedi. Satisfied that they had done a good job, Han rubbed a hand over his own disguise.

Synthflesh made to look like the corrugated skin of Yosorians ran down his neck and up his hairline until it reached his forehead, the exposed skin of his arms also donned as such. Colored lenses had changed the brandy color of his eyes to the vivid indigo of the Yosorians. With a little help at changing the patterns of his speech and modifying the tone to a slightly higher octave, with more precise inflection, it wasn't likely that anyone would identify him as Han Solo.

It was to their advantage that he and Leia had shrunk from public observation, otherwise it would have been more difficult to make a believable disguise for him. Luke wouldn't have had that luxury, although Han was aware that his old friend had a Jedi trick or two up his sleeve if he didn't want to go around noticed. But the years of duty and hardship must have taxed Luke, Han mused. At least now Luke could find peace.

As the delegation approached, Han stifled these thoughts and turned his attention to the precise stride of their delegation. Military, Han sighed inwardly. They're going to salute me, they always salute me.

And sure enough, as the group of five - one human and four Mon Cal - military leaders came to a halt in front of him, all four of their webbed hands, plus one human hand, came up to touch their bulbous foreheads. Repressing the urge to mock them, Han saluted back. These people were their allies. If they were going to stop the threat of war from coming to the Republic once again, they would all need to work together. Inwardly, Han winced as he realized this was something that Leia had drilled into him.

"Captain Forgan?" the human asked, using the alias Han had adopted. "I'm Gyser Feld, Chief Tiv sent me to coordinate with you. I'm head of security on Mon Calamari," Feld said. He was a large man, dwarfing Han by at least half a handspan. Bald, with bushy grey eyebrows under startling orange eyes, and skin that was moistened by the high humidity on Mon Calamari.

Han pointed to Luke's lookalike. "This is Harman Amodt." His thumb jumped to the rest of the Jedi team. "Kardon Troakn," a Dresselian. "Vsal Suoal," one of the two Barabels that had accompanied Han, the other, "Sect Suoal." Han patted a large Dornaral on his hairy shoulder, "This guy's name isn't pronounceable by humans, but we call him Dorn." Feld roved intimidated eyes over the large Dornaral. The three others were human, two women and one man. "Alynn Resvi," he introduced the first woman, from his own home planet of Corellia, a dark-haired beauty with green eyes.

The other woman was a descendent of one of the survivors of the destroyed Alderaan, her skin dark, as well as her eyes and hair. Leia had often remarked that the woman reminded her of her foster father, Bail Organa, and had wondered if she had been a distant relation to the prince of Alderaan. "Athaliah Torran." And, lastly, an older Jedi, one of Luke's initial students, a redhead whose age had yet to diminish the freckles that dotted his still-boyish face. "Lant Duffin."

"We are grateful for your help in this matter," Feld said, in such a way that told Han that the Head of Security would rather have Han back on Coruscant than here.

Han didn't comment on it, but his suspicions were instantly aroused by Feld's reaction. He knew generally that military didn't like outsiders in their operation, and although the Jedi were no longer shunned by the government, it still hadn't become enamored with them, either. Still, Feld seemed more upset about Han's arrival than the fact that he had brought Jedi in.

"Why do you think that the leak is here on Mon Cal?" Han asked, as the delegation led him and his team into the relative dryness of the shelter. The irony of a leak on this water world did not escape Han.

Feld did not hesitate in his answer. "It's possible that it's not so close to home, but we have to start somewhere and branch out. All the records from all our stations are duplicated and transmitted here every standard day."

"You think we'll be able to trace any breaches in security through records?" Han asked, trying to hold back his incredulity, and not sure if he succeeded.

Feld shrugged, "It's a long shot, but at the moment it's our only hope."

To Han's way of thinking, they should have already traced any of the signs that a possible slicer might leave when hacking into the mainframe. Something was up, and it was giving Han a very bad feeling. Standard military procedure was to check all those records before a disaster like the one they were sitting in developed, that was why they were copied to Mon Calamari in the first place.

"I'd also like to work some of my team into your officers. You can explain that we're a delegation from Yosor learning the inner workings of Republic security," Han said, making it sound as though it were an order. He knew these military types: say what you want in just the right tone of voice, and they would jump like toads on a skittle.

Glancing back at Han's Jedi team, Feld asked, "Which ones?"

"Alynn, Athaliah, and Lant," Han rattled their names off without hesitation. During the trip from Coruscant to Mon Calamari Han had prepared contingency plans for any eventuality. A far cry from the smuggler who preferred a straight fight to all this sneaking around. "They'll fit well, and can be disguised as I am."

"I'll see that it is done," Feld assured him.

Until they reached the quarters Feld had prepared for the team, Han continued to toss conversation into the air. Talking about everything from the current market on squid fish to who Feld though would win the shockball tournament. Once inside the quarters, and after the team began to inspect it for listening devices, Han pulled Harmon aside. "I want you watching Feld. There's something fishy about that guy, and I don't mean the squid fish."


	13. There's Nothing Here for me Now

Chapter 13: There's Nothing Here For Me Now

iI hate this place. I hate this place. I hate this place/i The Sith Lady Sarlana hissed the litany in her mind as she followed her gaping companions through the halls of the palace in Theed. She smiled sweetly at them as both Anakin and Dorsca Cherrz pointed out the different wondrous sculptures, or the long tapestries that hung from the walls.

She was that malfunctioning droid again, pristine and shiny on the outside, hot wires sparking on the inside. What was truly sad about the analogy was that she preferred the spark to the shine.

It all came down to Naboo; in her youth, Sarlana had inundated Padami with requests for stories of her homeworld, stories that Padami had told with such vivid clarity that Sarlana had always felt she had already been to the planet, although this was her first time on Naboo. Padami had once been a handmaiden to the Queen of Naboo, a decoy, she had explained, a bodyguard to keep safe the leader of a whole planet. Ironic that Sarlana was now that decoy, a decoy for a person that did not even exist, except this was not for safety, but for destruction.

And who would she be destroying? Her eyes traced the lines of Anakin's face, the jawline that was a smooth line but had the hardness of muscle to it, those ice-chipped eyes that looked so deeply at her that she feared at any moment he would know her secret. What was it she feared? That he would learn too soon and destroy her Master's plan, or what his thoughts would be of her after he learned? She would destroy the one man she thought she loved.

iDon't think like that/i, she admonished herself. She couldn't love anybody, let alone a Jedi.

Pushing her thoughts away from the complication that Anakin Solo posed, of its own accord her mind turned to the day that Padami had died. A shiver coursed through her as the memories flooded over, not even dampened by the pass of time. She could remember merrily trotting into her caretaker's quarters, a young child who mirrored the image of Padami's lost daughter, a daughter Sarlana knew to be Leia Solo, finding her beloved caretaker lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood.

Sarlana had not been hardened as she was now, had not known that death could be the ultimate control over the rebellious beings of the galaxy, Nefarion had taught her that over time. No, this young child had been innocent, a bright spot that glowed like a supernova. On that day, the supernova had finally imploded. The effects of that moment in time still filled Sarlana. That event had caused her to embrace the path she now tread.

Blood had been everywhere, all she could see, and the rage that had filled her was unaccustomed for such a young child. Sarlana realized it was the conditioning of her training that had caused her to act the way she did.

"Analsa?" Anakin asked, and it was then that Sarlana noticed that the three of them had stopped, holding up their escort, a handmaiden who could very well be like Padami. Anakin's large thumb came up to brush a tear from her cheek.

She grabbed his hand, undecided as to whether she sought solace or rejection in the gesture. Weakling, fool, she cursed herself, and pushed Anakin's hand away from hers gently, but forcefully.

"Are you alright, M'lady?" the handmaiden asked, using the honorific, unsure of how to address Sarlana.

"Fine," Sarlana lied, dashing her finger underneath her eyes, mopping the residual moisture. She forced a laugh. "It's just so beautiful here."

Solo gave her a look that clearly said he did not buy it, and it frightened her how easily she could read his features. She returned it with a look of her own, telling him to back off, and the fact that he could read her again scared her all the more. This shouldn't be happening. I am a Sith, sworn to my Master to destroy the Jedi or bring them under his boot. I cannot entertain these notions.

Anakin turned to the handmaiden. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm afraid Naboo brings bittersweet memories to Analsa. She was born here, but her parents left during the Vong war."

The handmaiden nodded. "War leaves lasting impressions," she said sagaciously, and returned to leading them through the corridors. To the Queen's throne room.

As they walked, Sarlana sidled up next to Solo, her grief buried under her anger. "You should not have said that," she admonished out of the side of her mouth.

"Said what?" Solo pretended both ignorance and innocence.

"My past is not on display, Solo. You can speak only when I allow you to, understood?" Sarlana snapped, her anger finally coming out.

She recognized the hardness in his jaw. She had seen it on Bellalt, when she had disobeyed him and had snuck aboard the ship, it was a hardness that inexplicably quelled her. And she found herself wanting to backpedal on her harsh statement.

"Excuse me... M'lady," he exaggerated the honorific, his voice as cold as his ice-chipped eyes. "You asked to come on this mission." So he was finally playing that sabacc card. "I understand that this is hard for you, even if I don't understand the reason, but I am your senior and I will not take orders. Is that understood?"

She opened her mouth to retort, feeling the anger at having to pretend to be someone else, the doubt of her burgeoning feelings for this Jedi, and the dark memories that clung to her mind. They were about to explode from her like fire from a flamethrower when Cherrz spoke up from Anakin's other side.

"Perhaps you'd like to give the people of Naboo more to share gossip on," the Yuuzhan Vong muttered into his hand, jerking to several palace servants that were watching the exchange between Anakin and Sarlana with avid amazement.

To her surprise Anakin, gave her a pointed glare before smiling handsomely to a group of young palace keepers. The girls giggled, and Sarlana felt her blood heat in anger. Noting Sarlana's reaction, the Queen's handmaiden gave the keepers a baleful glare, silencing them as fast as melting bantha butter with a lightsaber. A genuine smile spread across Sarlana's features, aimed at the handmaiden. She imagined it would have been something Padami might have done; for a moment she felt as though her caretaker came back through this beautiful handmaiden.

"Jedi Solo," the handmaiden caught Anakin's attention. "The Queen is waiting."

Anakin, chagrined, nodded and bowed before the handmaiden. "I apologize for my distraction."

The handmaiden smiled an acceptance of his apology and continued to lead them to the palace throne room. Anakin and Sarlana made it a point not to look at one another for the rest of the meeting.

The throne room was just as Padami had described it. Long floor-to-ceiling panels of transparisteel, bathing the ceramic floor tile in a milky ambient light. Around the room were chairs of varying sizes, reminding Sarlana of the Jedi Council; however, these chairs were decorated more elaborately, with gold threading through the cushions, and the material the finest of shimmersilk. The Queen sat up straight on her throne, a commanding presence in such a petite form, much like Sarlana herself. Her dark auburn hair had been woven into a latticework of the finest laced shimmersilk, the color that matched the threading of her violet dress. The balancing red beauty marks were vibrant against the dove white of her painted face, her lip split by the scar of remembrance.

The Queen must always remember the weight of her decisions. That is why we keep the marks of the terrible wars that the Naboo once faced. But even then, you can only make a decision with the information you have in the moment. Queen Amidala learned that the hard way.

Most of all, Sarlana hated the fact that Padami had come to haunt her on Naboo.

Anakin bowed before the Queen. "Your Majesty. I am Anakin Solo, Jedi Knight."

The Queen nodded, her green eyes sharp on Anakin. "We know why you are here, young Jedi."

Anakin donned a look of confusion. Raised his eyebrows on his wide forehead. "You do, Majesty?"

"I know you are here for information about Ben Skywalker," the Queen said pointedly. "What I don't know is why the Council would send you here, when I have already told them that I will not give up that information?"

Sarlana enjoyed the way Anakin seemed to shift in his skin. These Naboo certainly knew how to put these arrogant Jedi in their right place. "Your Majesty, I don't believe you know why it is so important that we get Apprentice Skywalker back. I know he has been on Naboo, I felt him when we arrived. I'm Ben's Master in the absence of his father. He is in a terrible time, and needs guidance."

"Well, at least you are truthful with me," Queen Pernillia admitted. "Still, I would need a very good reason..." The Queen suddenly paused. "Did you say your last name was Solo?"

Sarlana watched the smile, that Anakin thought was victory, spread on the Jedi's face. "Anakin Solo, Your Highness."

"So your concern is not purely a Jedi one?" the Queen questioned.

Anakin sobered at the question. Sarlana knew what he was thinking of, the visions that Ben would join her Master, and become the darkness. Foolishly, Solo believed he could change that. "No, Your Highness, it is not. Ben is a special boy, but he has been through some very traumatic times. I only wish to relay to him that he is not alone in them."

"We are sorry for your uncle's loss," the Queen said, her voice noticeably warming to Anakin.

"I thank you, Your Highness," Sarlana caught the weakness of emotion in his voice. "Master Skywalker asked me to train his son as he was dying. I must find him," now there was pleading in his voice. Why did Solo allow himself such weakness before a lesser being? Lord Nefarion would only appear weak before the strike, yet she did not sense anything of this in Anakin Solo.

The Queen's head fell forward as if in submission, or in weariness, Sarlana couldn't tell, yet she was astounded by all these shows of fragility. Sarlana would never think of displaying such. Wasn't it you who was crying in the hallway? a part of her mind asked, the part that was so very much that bright child that Padami had raised.

"I wish that I could help you, Anakin Solo, however I do not know where Ben Skywalker escaped to," the Queen revealed.

It took only a moment for Anakin to smother his disappointment. Lord Nefarion would have raged for days at such a setback, Sarlana would have felt the Sith lightning coursing through her body, or Tranx would have lost another arm. Anakin accepted the defeat and moved on. The Queen must always remember the weight of her decisions. It was a responsibility that Sarlana never wanted.

"Then I no longer wish to waste your time, Highness," Anakin said, preparing to level a bow at the Queen once again.

"We do not know where he has gone, but perhaps there are clues left in the palace that may help you," the Queen stopped him short, her commanding presence returning once again. Sarlana marveled at her ability to change from human to monarch so quickly. She wore her two faces with such ease. Something Sarlana could not do. "We offer you our assistance and that of the Naboo people. Sarné?"

Out of nowhere the handmaiden that had led them to the throne room reappeared, Sarlana hadn't even noticed she had gone missing. Some great awareness skills you have. "Yes, Your Highness."

"Arrange quarters for Jedi Anakin and his companions," the Queen instructed. She turned to face Cherrz. "There are many amongst your people here on Naboo, I'm afraid that there have been events that have catapulted our people to once again become wary of one another."

Cherrz bowed. "I am aware, Your Highness. I hope to be a tool in the Force's will to mend the breach between our people."

"The Force, our Yuuzhan Vong friend?" the Queen asked surprised.

"Domain Cherrz is Force-sensitive, Queen Pernillia. He is under training, and is currently under my direction," Anakin informed.

The Queen looked impressed. "It seems that the Jedi have made leaps and bounds in their knowledge of the Force."

Anakin pleased her with a smile. "Service to the galaxy and to the Force is our goal, Your Majesty. To explore the Force and gain a deeper knowledge of its will is forever our schooling."

"There is much of you in your cousin, young Anakin," the Queen replied. Her emerald green eyes came to rest on Sarlana. "And who is this young lady who has the look of a Naboo?"

Anakin stepped back and gave her a look to motion her forward, his ice-chipped eyes seeming to tell her that she had forbidden him to talk of her past. Thanks a lot, Solo, she hissed in her mind, while obeying his eye motion. "Analsa Vinn, Your Majesty."

"You have the sound of Naboo in your voice as well," the Queen noted. /iCurse Nefarion and his stupidity./i Her Master had forgotten to take a number of things to mind when he had sent her to infiltrate the Jedi. Ben Skywalker had also discerned her accent to be that of Naboo, how many more would pick up on all the pieces before putting together that she was not Analsa

Vinn, but the Sith Lady Sarlana?

Sarné spoke up. "Her parents were from Naboo, Your Highness. They were forced to leave during the Yuuzhan Vong war."

"Such terrible times those were, political infighting destroys from the inside out," the Queen said. "I am glad that your training has brought you home to Naboo."

Sarlana said the next through gritted teeth. "I'm glad that it has as well, Your Highness."

/hr

It had been Jacen Solo whom had finally brought an accord between the natives of the galaxy and the Yuuzhan Vong, an accord based on each side's reverence for life, even if that reverence differed. It had been a day that the galaxy had celebrated the final peace that had rocked the foundations of several worlds for years. The New Republic had been reformed and reorganized, the Yuuzhan Vong had signed a treaty - some of them, influenced by the heresy of the Shamed Ones, had joined the New Republic.

It was a day that Warmaster Tarsvin Shraq had felt was the greatest failing of his brethren, a day when the Gods had wailed against their appendages who had suddenly found new Gods, these Jeedai, to worship. Ever since that day, Shraq had waited, plotted, schemed, murdered, cajoled, and sacrificed, waiting for the day he could finally bring together his brethren. And, along with this dream, there was another - a darker, more sadistic desire, that made Tarsvin's blood run hot through his body, his rangy muscles flexing beneath the scarring and tattooing that marred the gnarled skin of his body.

This desire had haunted his dreams, had been a phantom in his waking hours, an addiction stronger then any thennel plant. The death of Jacen Solo was not nearly enough, although this was the basis of his desire; no, he would single-handedly take the life of each Solo that lived, starting with everyone that Jacen Solo loved. For this purpose he had joined with the demigod Nefarion claimed to be. It was certainly true that the Sith Lord had the grace of the Gods with him, and Shraq believed that it was through Nefarion that the Yuuzhan Vong would finally claim the galaxy that the Gods endowed to them.

However, Nefarion was a tool, a valuable tool, but a tool nonetheless. A weapon, grown like the amphistaff or the coralskipper, one that the Yuuzhan Vong were meant to use and manipulate. As soon as the galaxy of infidels was crushed, then the Yuuzhan Vong were free to dispose of their tool any way they liked. Oh, for now Lord Nefarion may believe that he was the one holding the amphistaff, just as the slithering creature believed that the arm it curled around meant it held the user.

A warrior manipulated the amphistaff by pressing the nerves that moved on reflex, hardly registered by the amphistaff's limited intelligence. For now, Shraq would play the groveling Yuuzhan Vong before the demigod that Nefarion believed he had convinced the Warmaster he was, but he would be the grutchin lying in wait, attacking when least expected.

Kneeling before the Sith Lord Master Nefarion, this reassurance ran through Shraq as he leaned on his razor-encrusted implants, not even grimacing as the razors dug into his skin and rusted blood dripped into pools around his knees. The soft marsh of the floor gave with his added weight, causing the blood to lap around his skin. For a Devotee Yuuzhan Vong, those that had not lost the old ways, the pain was nothing but an erotic chill. He embraced it like a lover, drank it like the excrement of the paanl, and craved it like the desire of his dream.

"My Lord Nefarion," Shraq oozed, as if addressing the Gods themselves. "What is thy bidding?"

Nefarion's features were hidden behind his cowl, as they always were, the Sith Lord refusing to don the living garments of the Yuuzhan Vong. Many a time, Shraq had to suppress the urge to fling the cowl back and drive an Elin spike through the Sith Lord's throat, pinning him to the throne that Shraq had once roosted on.

"I need a detachment of your people to carry out a special mission," Lord Nefarion said, his tone dripping with the precise edges of sharp ice.

"Anything, Speaker of the Gods," Shraq said, knowing that even now he did not play his part too fully. Nefarion thought the Yuuzhan Vong primitive, a species easily manipulated by their beliefs. Anything within the realm of their religion would fool the arrogant Sith, Shraq had learned from his previous dealings with Lord Nefarion.

"I chose you because I know of your desire to seek vengeance on the Solo family, it is a vengeance I wish as well," Lord Nefarion said, for the first time revealing more than just instruction. "For there is a Solo that stands in the way of my plan."

This piqued Shraq's curiosity. Nefarion was not prone to admit he had a worthy adversary, the man seemed to think he was the ultimate power in the universe. Or that he could gain that power. "And who is that Solo, Speaker of the Gods?"

"Anakin Solo," Nefarion answered tersely.

A low growl emanated from the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster without him consciously thrumming it through his vocal chords, it was as instinctive as the manipulative nerves inside an amphistaff. Anakin Solo was nearly as worse as his brother, the first Jedi to warp the mind of a Shamed One. Rapuung, Shamed One, who had felt that a former lover, a love forbidden between hima shaper, had caused a virus to keep his implants from joining with his skin, thus deeming him Shamed. Anakin Solo had helped Rapuung face the accursed shaper, who had admitted the heresy, thus bringing the Shamed Ones to believe that the Jedi were the true vessels of the Gods.

Anakin Solo's meddling only affirmed Shraq's desire to destroy all those that bore the name Solo. These Jedi had shamed the Gods for far too long, making themselves greater than the Gods. Jaina Solo had even taken upon herself the name of the trickster Goddess, confusing the Yuuzhan Vong that had once been so devoted to the old ways. Bringing them to the beliefs of the infidels. Not only would Shraq sacrifice the Solo twins, but their brother, and once the Republic was in the hands of those the Gods had sent, he would sacrifice the Sith Lord he knelt before.

A cold chuckle countered the Yuuzhan Vong growl. "I see you understand the importance of Anakin Solo not getting in our way."

"The Solos have been an Elin spike in the side of the Yuuzhan Vong for many years," Shraq agreed. "It's time to extract the problem."

"Good. You will assemble a group of two hundred of your strongest warriors, loyal to the cause of the Yuuzhan Vong and the Gods," Lord Nefarion said.

Nefarion did not know what he was asking - or perhaps he did. Perhaps he knew that the Devotee Yuuzhan Vong were short on Devotees. That in the last week alone, Shraq had been forced to kill three of them as they tried to take the life of the Speaker of the Gods; in their minds, killing the man would be the last ditch attempt for the Devotees. What those mindless dregs forgot was that Shraq would be the savior, he would bring the Yuuzhan Vong to their goal. It cheered him immensely that he now had a scapegoat for the many attempts on his life, Nefarion now had to deal with the rabble.

The Sith Lord seemed to be able to play the same game as Shraq, pushing the right nerves to send a jolted charge of energy. Except Shraq knew of the attempt and could dodge it, if not easily.

"That may be difficult, Lord Nefarion," he admitted.

"I did not ask if it was difficult," Lord Nefarion suddenly snapped, the anger hidden by the eternal shroud, but palpable as shivering mist around Shraq. The Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster had never been disabused to the fact that the Sith Lord was powerful, but so were the coral patches, your feet needed to know where to tread. "Make sure it's done."

"It will take time..." Shraq began, but his breath was cut off by a gust of inexplicable wind. Yes, this Sith Lord was powerful indeed.

"Your time is restricted. Your team must leave directly after the second wave assault," Nefarion commanded, that frost of ice coloring his words.

Shraq bowed his head, the blood from his knees beginning to seep through his fingers, pooling there. He did not know if Lord Nefarion noticed the rusted blood, or if the Sith took subtle pleasure in doling out pain, whether in reality or in his demigod status, but Shraq would not give in either way.

"You can assure me that these assaults won't be traced back to us?" Shraq asked, dancing his fingers over the nerves.

Nefarion leaned forward, his compact muscular body arching without bending. "Do you doubt my power, Warmaster?" The edge of an amphistaff could not be sharper or more deadly. Yes, this Sith Lord is powerful. Shraq was alarmed to feel his flesh crawl at the sound of the liquid acid that dripped from Nefarion's caustic tongue.

Shraq's head bent further down, until his head tails dangled, teasing the surface of the rusted blood. "No, Lord Nefarion."

"Be glad that you don't, Shraq. The Gods would be most displeased if the devoted brethren began now to doubt their path." Pompous was the definition of Nefarion's stature.

Doubt the Gods, or doubt you, Sith? Shraq thought, thankful that the Sith Lord could not read the minds of the Yuuzhan Vong, as he had learned a few of the Jedi could. It had stunned him when his spies on Bellalt had reported this.

"It is time for the Jedi to remember the power of the Sith," Nefarion hissed.

/hr

"We must warn Ben," Luke said as he and his one-time mentor in life and guide in death withdrew from the scene of the meeting between Lord Nefarion and the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Shraq. It had surprised Luke to be able to touch the Yuuzhan Vong with the Force, and feel a presence distinctly alien, but with the sense of the living nonetheless.

As usual, Obi-Wan stated, "Not yet. You cannot go around warning him of every little danger. Did I warn you of that wampa that was coming? Did I warn you that Vader was on your tail in the Death Star trench? No, I did this to teach you how to trust yourself and the Force."

"Well blast it, what can I do?" Luke demanded. "I am not an apprentice anymore, Obi-Wan. I'm not going to sit here and let everything that I, and so many of my Jedi, died to build, fall apart."

Obi-Wan's azure eyes became avid with some hidden emotion. "Would that make you a coward, Luke?"

"Of course," Luke snapped. He was not acting like himself. The calm he had perfected in life had fled him in death. He felt twenty years old again, his spirit crawling in his body, only now he had no physical form, only the spectral of what he had once been.

Obi-Wan straightened. "Then call me coward."

The words struck Luke like a laserblast to his midsection. How could he have been so thoughtless, so juvenile? Here was a man who let everything fall apart around him, not because he wanted to, or thought it useless, but because he had seen a hope in the son of his betrayer. How could he stand here and talk of cowardice when he had just betrayed his own?

"I'm sorry, I'm not myself, but that is no excuse. Please accept my apology," Luke almost pleaded.

A smile came over Obi-Wan's face. "I made Qui-Gon's death a living hell when I died. Patience is somehow harder when you have no hands to push against the wheel of time. Another lesson you need to learn."

"I am an apprentice all over again, aren't I?" Luke said, showing his embarrassment and chagrin in the slight smile he wore.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "In many ways, the line between Master and Apprentice is thin, although if you had said something to me like that when I was just a Padawan I would have thought you a damned fool. When you went to turn Anakin you had idealism, but were slightly short on wisdom. I had lost my idealism. We countered each other, had something to gain from one another. A pair is nothing without the other, Luke."

"I need to give Anakin and Ben time to become a pair. That's what you're telling me, isn't it?" Luke ventured. "If I interfere I will only be weakening my son, who needs to be strong for the trials up ahead for him."

"See, you learn much faster than I did. Twenty years I spent watching over you on Tatooine, and suddenly I couldn't do a thing to change the winds of the Force," Obi-Wan explained. He paused, those azure eyes Luke could see mirrored by Ben focusing on something Luke couldn't see. Obi-Wan had done this from time to time, his skill in death far greater than Luke's. Suddenly he shook himself out of it. "The darkness is rising."


	14. Somehow I've Always Known

Chapter 14: Somehow I've Always Known

"Alright, what's wrong?" McCal asked, as he and Keorra did a security check around the perimeter of the safehouse compound.

It was a check that Keorra insisted upon doing every standard hour. Her Upoi Warrior training had drilled into her a sense of discipline that came close, but could not rival, that of a Jedi's. She was young to have completed her Upoi training, an adept at not only the vibrations of the weapon, but a soul reader. One who could read the intentions in the soul of a warrior.

The Upoi Soulreaders were often called upon by the New Republic, and went as far back as the old days of the Old Republic to judge the testimony of those accused of high crimes, many those of war criminals. Keorra had only been called a handful of times, her expertise beyond many of those who had been Soulreaders for years, but were constantly selected for service to the Republic because of their age.

Keorra had become disenchanted with the other warriors of her sect, members who had begun to bicker over her training, and so she had left, with little choice but to take care of herself. She had been a prodigy amongst the group, the fastest to gain the title of Soulreader in the history of the Upoi, and yet they had wished to dominate her.

She wondered what they had done when they had woken up and found their prized jewel gone. It had filled her with a morbid pleasure to think of their fear in her absence, now she just wished to be alone.

Still, she found it incredibly unnerving that McCal could read her so well. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You've got every member of the Security Force doing toe dances around you," McCal clarified with added emphasis. "I've never seen Naggel so strung out. He triple checks himself, and looks over his shoulder as if you were right behind him. I'd rather skip the act and come right out with it."

McCal was like a brother to her, an annoying older brother who knew her far too well. Yes, she snapped extra hard at her team when she was in a particular foul mood, and they all knew not to cross her when these rather rare moods cropped up. All except McCal - he would push her until she almost put her blaster to his temple. Of course, she couldn't kill the annoying man, she loved him too much.

"It's the bosses nephew, isn't it? You're still bugged that he got past you?" McCal guessed, a note of humor dancing in his baritone voice.

McCal was one of the Suul, an ancient race that had once dominated the galaxy and who had soon been nearly extinct because of their growing pride and grasping power. Of course, McCal was nothing like his violent ancestors, although he was a force to be reckoned with if anyone endangered the Boss, one of the reasons Keorra had kept the Suul close to her, and thus close to Karrde. He was a good two feet taller then her, his limbs deceivingly willowy but as strong as durasteel. He was like a drip of molten metal cooled and refined, his skin a glowing silvery color, and his eyes the color of the moon. The dark mop of hair on his head stood out against the rest of him, and he kept it long, in tiny braids that fell over his shoulders.

"No one gets past me," she hissed. "No one has ever got past me, not even you."

"He's Jedi, Keo," McCal reminded.

Keorra growled. "That shouldn't be an issue. I wasn't paying attention, I wasn't myself." Why?

"We all have bad days," the Suul tried to soothe her.

"I shouldn't," Keorra said. McCal didn't understand, he hadn't been raised in the conditions she had been, the expectations upon her that had begun to choke the very life out of her. "Anyway, I'll try not to snap at Naggel. When people get nervous, they also get sloppy, no matter how many times they check their work."

McCal chuckled. "I knew you'd see it your way."

Keorra laughed with him, feeling some of the tensions drain out of her body with the levity. She couldn't wait for Shada to get back. Security was Keorra's department, but Shada made her feel extra sure of the Boss' safety. Of course, Shada wouldn't be back for at least another standard month, and so Keorra would be on her guard, she refused to call it nervous. She wouldn't make a mistake with her employer's life.

"Anyway," McCal continued, slipping the key card hooked to his datapad through the access slot, downloading the names of all those who had come through the door in the last hour. "He isn't just any Jedi, either. He's the son of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, that's got to give you some datamarks in the Force."

"And the grandson of Darth Vader. Sure, I love the fact that he's taken up roost here. Why doesn't he go to that damnable Temple of theirs," Keorra said, her irritation rising.

McCal gave her a mock stern look. "I thought you were going to stop snapping."

"Only at Naggel, I never said anything about being civil to you," she teased with a mischievous smile.

He scowled at her over the datapad as he completed the download of names. They never left the security codes in there, in case anyone came in with slicer capability who could access the codes through each door's mainframe. Keorra herself had done it a number of times on their system, hoping to develop one that such breaches could not occur in.

"If I didn't know you would pound me to the tile, you'd be in trouble," McCal joked.

"Oh, I know," she said, with feigned solemnity.

McCal shook his head. "Why does Karrde even put up with you?"

"Cause he values his life," Keorra rejoined, snatching up her own datapad with access card. "I'm going further down, try to save us some time." It was her way of saying that she trusted him.

She could feel his eyes on her as she made her way to the next security check door. The archive of information that Talon Karrde kept here was more valuable than the whole spice mines of Kessel. It had surprised her that Karrde would hire such a young Security Chief, even a Upoi Soulreader, although she had only told him that she had warrior training - nothing about her special gift. Too many times she had seen him looking upon her with almost a fond expression, as though she reminded him of an old friend.

He knew she was a runaway, had known it the moment she had mentioned the Upoi. Background checks were an essential to security, and the Upoi had been deemed her legal guardians. In fact, she was very much a wanted woman. Karrde, however, had not turned her in, but had accepted her as an employee, securing her as much as she did him.

Slipping her keycard through the access slot, she punched her keypad with her override code. Names and code glyphs started to download into her datapad wiping the security door of the residual. The access cards changed randomly, like sabacc cards, every hour, and no one knew their security code except for Keorra and McCal. It was an idea that had come to Keorra during a hand of sabacc she had played with the crew. There was so little uncertainty in the gamblers, and any who came to infiltrate the Boss' safehouse was a gambler.

Looking up, she found Ben Skywalker executing a round of complicated acrobatic tumbles. His feet and back position were so excellent that she wondered briefly if they were Force-enhanced, but she could tell by the slight tremor of his muscles that this was all coming from him. As the names filtered into her datapad, she studied him, allowing herself the opportunity to listen to the hum of him, the opportunity she had missed at his arrival. Of its own accord, her mind noted the dark circles that were not natural that smudged the skin under his eyes, the gaunt look to his features, as though he had not slept nor ate for days. The way each of his exercises became more and more difficult, despite the continued lethargy in his ill-nourished muscles.

Why does he push himself so? she wondered idly.

Again her eyes roved over his features. His coloring was mainly a mixture of his parents', blue-green eyes and ruddy brown hair. A cleft split his chin and he had grown the ginger locks past his collar. She had assumed that the son of Skywalker would have been more refined, not this young roguish boy she saw before her.

He flipped forward, and as his feet came through the air to touch down on the other side, they sprang back like a jumping board, turning his flip to the back. He's fighting himself, she deduced. Or running from something.

Well, she already knew that he was running. The only people who came to Karrde were those who did not want to be found, and they wouldn't be. Karrde had given Skywalker access to the whole building - the security card Keorra had issued for him was on a par to her own. She was well aware of the rapport that the Skywalkers and Talon Karrde had, and she knew that the Boss would do anything, even endanger his own life, for this one remaining member of the family.

Palming her comlink, she set the frequency to McCal's. "Finish the security check. There's something else that has grabbed my attention."

She pocketed the comlink, and once the datapad finished its scrambling of the codes she placed it inside its case, pressing the lock with her thumbprint. Only Keorra and Shada could activate the thumbprint locks, not even McCal had that much clearance. Setting the case down outside of the training room, she activated the door, and walked in silently.

Skywalker was already on to another round of artistic flips and aerial twists. He was the most unique Jedi Keorra had ever met, and their acquaintance had lasted for as long as their sparring in front of Karrde's office and then when she had issued him his security card. What was he running from? Why was he fighting himself?

Just as he was landing from a complicated routine, Keorra rushed him, not exactly sure what had come over her, but wanting to catch a hum of this human weapon. Which wasn't the brightest of ideas. As he landed, he spun, the cylinder at his hip leaping to his hands, igniting it so that a sea-blue laser blade jutted from the pommel. Keorra's feet skidded to a halt, but she feared she wouldn't stop in time.

The lightsaber came within a millimeter of her neck, the pulsing heat warming her skin. He gave her a wry grin that managed to lighten the dimness in his eyes. "Care for a rematch, Mistress Cereaslean?"

She felt herself mimic his grin. "I don't know, are you sure you're up to it? You look a little tired."

By way of answering, he shut down his lightsaber and tossed it, using his abilities in the Force to land it gently in a nearby weapons alcove. "Let's see how tired I am."

"No Force?" she asked.

He nodded. "No Force."

Without further warning, she snapped her foot into the air, seeking to off-balance him with a swift kick to the chest. Indeed he was not tired; he arched his back, throwing himself in such a perfect backflip that she felt envious of his skill. She came in closer with a punch to his face - he blocked it, but did not return the hit that she had left open. He was making it very difficult for her to read the hum of him. Defense was not a weapon, it was a shield, and she needed the thrum of his offense.

Why is he holding back? Leaping into the air, she tossed two kicks at him, each blocked, before she came down. He whirled away from her when she brought her elbow out to smash in his cheek. Sweat was beginning to form and ripple down her back, arms, and legs, staining her unisuit in much the same pattern as Skywalker's. He's playing with me. Gauging me without Upoi training.

He dodged several more of her strikes, and she began to see that his shield was his weapon, he knew that she could not gauge him without him taking the offense and so he worked behind a smokescreen of defense, clearly blinding her from her abilities. It struck her that he had used the same technique when she had believed him to be an assassin, but how did he know that she was Upoi?

"You're good," she breathed, thrusting her hand out to grab his collar and falling backward, using his own weight to send him flying.

He rolled with her, and when he would have hit the tiled floor pumped his leg muscles, so that he came up on his feet. Arching her back and popping her spine, she snapped back to face him. He smiled as he faced her and they began to slowly circle one another. "You are too – however, do you think once you could greet me without trying to attack me?"

"Where would be the fun in that?" she asked, cocky.

"Where indeed?" he said, and she realized that he was enjoying this, the opportunity to fight someone other than himself. She made it a point to find out more about this Ben Skywalker.

She ran a hand through her nearly white hair, that was beginning to chunk due to the sweat pouring from her scalp. Without warning she leaped, expecting him to dodge her with ease. It surprised her when he froze completely, his eyes glazing as though he had suddenly been forced into a trance. She took in all this within a blink of an eye, and she turned in mid-air, straining her muscles so as not to hit him full on. Despite her attempt, her boot heel smashed into the right side of his cheek, causing him to stagger and eventually crumble to the ground.

Rolling out of a misdirected landing, Keorra struggled to her feet and rushed to Skywalker. His eyes were still glazed, and by the way his muscles flexed he was once again fighting himself. Blood was trailing down his cheek in liberal amounts, and falling into her hand that cushioned his head. She rested the mass of ginger locks on her lap and used her tunic to stave off the bleeding.

"Skywalker?" she called, and her heart pounded when he did not answer.

She was about to pull her comlink to call Karrde, and the med team he kept here for emergencies, when Skywalker's body spasmed in her arms, and then his eyes returned to clarity, but they looked alarmingly tired. It was then that she noticed that they were now shot with grey, instead of the blue-green color he normally wore. Those steel-shot eyes roved around the room, gaining his bearings, as if to relocate himself.

Shakingly, he sighed. "Sorry about that. I didn't catch this one in time. I've been so tired, far too tired." And he looked years ahead of his age.

"What was that?" she asked, thankfully keeping the tremor from her voice.

"It was nothing," he said, lifting himself up from her arms, his movements slow and lethargic, very different from the opponent she had just pasted seconds ago.

Anger built up in Keorra. "You're lying," she stated.

"So are you, Soulreader, Upoi Warrior Cereaslean," Skywalker said sagaciously.

She backed away from him as if he had turned into a Nek battle dog, or as though his skin had been drenched in fire. Not even Karrde knew her for a Soulreader! How did he know? Was he sent by the Upoi to bring her back to them? Had they finally learned of her location amongst Karrde and his organization? Fear coursed through her. She could not go back to the Upoi.

"Do not worry, your secret is safe with me," Skywalker said, as though reading her thoughts - considering his Force-ability, he very well might have. He locked gazes with her, and she could see that the steel had left his eyes. "Is mine with you?"

"You mean what just happened here?" Keorra asked, waving her hands vaguely in an attempt to somehow define the frightening moment. "You'll have to tell me what this was first," she demanded.

Tentatively, he touched the wound on his cheek, and did not even wince when he pulled away two fingers dabbled with blood. "That is a difficult thing to explain."

"Try me," she said, giving him a saccharine smile.

"Alright, but you must promise that you will not tell anyone. Not even Uncle Talon. The Council doesn't even know," he answered.

"Promise," she said, running a hand through her sweat encrusted hair.

"I am a Seer, a Jedi Seer, who can see things before they happen. Also the past and present," Skywalker explained. "Thanks to my Father, I can now control them, to a point, but if I'm too distracted or tired, the Force pulls at me." He shrugged. "That's what happened here."

Keorra watched him. "Is that how you knew I was a Soulreader?"

He shook his head. "That came from deduction. You are a most talented Upoi warrior. I could tell that the first time we sparred. This time, I watched for signs to see if you were a Soulreader. You were trying to get me to take an offensive to bare the true nature of my soul."

"Thus you took the defensive, knowing I couldn't read you as well," Keorra finished for him. "But you know, a Soulreader can go beyond the hum of the weapon."

"Would you read my soul, Upoi Cereaslean?" he asked, pointedly.

Keorra was visibly shaken. No one asked to be read, a Soulreader could see far too much in just a glimpse if they tried, and Keorra was the greatest of all Soulreaders. "You ask this of me? Why?"

"It is something I need to know," Skywalker answered. "Please."

The Upoi warrior found it hard not to feel compelled by that 'please'. There was an open honesty in this Ben Skywalker, a fear that wished to be relieved through her, she could see that without her Soulreader capabilities. "I have never had to 'read' a Jedi before. I'm not sure that I can."

"You can, I'm sure you can," Skywalker assured her. "You have to," he mumbled, more to himself than to her.

The eyes are the windows to the soul, her instructors had told her, and she sought a link with Skywalker's green-blue ones. She studied them until everything else fell away, even the color disappeared, the slight jerking movements they made as he tried to keep them still for her. She went past the physical, past the optical nerves that turned over the data the lens saw to the brain where it could be processed. She passed through the realm of reality to the realm of the spiritual, and gasped at what she saw there.

"Un'kalla," she whispered, the word in the ancient language of the Upoi. With an effort, she pulled herself out of the realm of unreality and returned to the physical.

His eyes were expectant on her, as if she were his judge, jury, and advocate all in one. As if she would condemn and defend him in whatever she uttered. "Well?" he asked after a while, and she did not answer the pleading in his eyes. "You said the word Un'kalla. What does that mean?"

"Un'kalla is an old Upoi battle cry. It means 'the sword of destruction that is sheathed,'" Keorra answered hesitantly.

Skywalker swallowed, as if he had known the answer all along and he was forced to face it regardless. "Am I the first Un'kalla you've met?"

"Me, personally, yes. But it is believed that the Emperor and your father were both Un'kalla," Keorra answered truthfully. "The Emperor became 'Kalla' and wreaked destruction, your father remained Un'kalla and brought peace."

"And what would happen if I became Kalla?" Skywalker asked, quietly, unsure if he wanted the answer or not.

"The Emperor nearly destroyed the galaxy; from what I can tell, you have more power than that. If you were to become Kalla..." she trailed off, not wanting to complete such a thought.

Skywalker picked up where she refused to go. "I could destroy galaxies."

"But you are Un'kalla," Keorra tried to argue, as much to relieve her own fears as his. This young man frightened her, and yet she felt as though she could trust him implicitly, a feeling that Keorra had never experienced before. Even Karrde had been circumspect, remained that way in some areas to this day, but Ben Skywalker, she knew without knowing, she could trust.

She drew her attention to the still-bleeding gash on his right cheek. "Let me clean that cut for you," she said, gesturing without touching the wound.

He shook his head, and gingerly touched the laceration once again. "I'm fine."

"Are all Jedi as Gamorrean-headed as you?" she asked flippantly, letting a touch of surliness into her voice.

At the tone his attention was forced on her, and a moment later he smiled. "It runs in the family," he remarked.

Keorra hopped to her feet and reached down a hand to him. He took it tentatively, afraid to spread the taint of possible Kalla on her, but he allowed her to help him up. "And you need to eat," she said, as she felt the thinness under the atrophying muscles of his arm.

"Are you also a medic, Keorra Cereaslean?" he asked, with a touch of her former asperity.

"No," Keorra shook her head. "But you are important to Karrde, and thus you are important to me. I won't let you continue this fight you are waging against yourself while you are under my watch."

"It's a fight you can't stop," he countered. "One I cannot stop. Only the passage of time will see who the victor is."

There was no reply to his crypticism, and so she gestured outside of the training room. "There is a med kit just down the corridor and to the right. We can get that laceration cleaned and bacta on it in no time."

As they walked, Keorra tried to reconcile herself to all that had happened in such a short time. If she were still bound to the Upoi, she would have been forced to report an Un'kalla in the galaxy, especially one as young as Ben Skywalker - yet she was no longer bound, if unofficially. But an Un'kalla was way beyond her expertise. Would she be forced to betray herself to the Upoi to save the galaxy from a boy who might go Kalla?

Then there was the ease in which they trusted each other, she knew that he had given her a piece of leverage when he had revealed himself as a Seer, and yet he had only required a promise from her before he had told her the truth. He would not reveal her as a Soulreader even though he would have return leverage on her.

Skywalker had been trailing her before, but he now stood side by side with her. "Would you mind if I asked you a question?"

"That would depend on what you wanted to know," she retorted smoothly, finding that her Upoi discipline allowed her an even answer.

"Why did you run away from the Upoi? You would obviously be a great asset to them and to the galaxy," he said. She could tell that there was truth running from him, and the high idealism that she had only read about but never had witnessed in the Skywalker family.

"Perhaps it is not my goal to heal the galaxy," she countered, not liking the fact that she was now attempting to lie to him. "Why are you not at the Temple?" She turned the conversation back to him.

There was a flicker of the previous steel in his eyes before he answered. "Because my visions say I will go Kalla," he admitted, and the weight of his voice carried the galaxy in it.

"Visions can be misleading," she returned without thinking.

"You are not Force-sensitive, and yet you speak with the wisdom of the Jedi's teachings," he accused. "How?"

Addle-brained idiot, she cursed herself. "My parents were Jedi; I was their failure child, unable to touch the energy source that enveloped their entire being. They sent me to the Upoi, so that I could learn to be like them, but never be a part of them."

"And where are they now?" he asked, knowing that there were no living Cereasleans at the Temple.

She drew in a shaky breath. "They are dead," she answered.

"I'm sorry, I know how terrible that can be," he consoled her.

But he did not know the whole truth, and she snapped at him in the heat of shocked pain. "What would you know about it?" She regretted the words as soon as they lifted off her ill-disciplined tongue. Of course he knew. He was an orphan just as she was, and by the way he closed his eyes, shielding himself from the memories, he had been there when they had been killed. "You saw it happen, didn't you?"

"Both times," he answered, and this time there was no emotion in his voice, as if a droid had taken place of the living sentient being Ben Skywalker. She recognized the mechanism of a warrior who had seen far too much in such a short time of living, and Keorra knew that it expanded beyond his parents' death.

She touched his shoulder. "I am sorry for my cruelty."

"As I am for mine. I did not mean to bring up such a harsh subject." Sincerity rang through both his words and his features. How could it be possible that this young man, this Seer Ben Skywalker, would go Kalla?

She looked away from that face that held so much expression in it that she could see the Un'kalla without delving into the Soulreader reality. He was now open to her in a way that no one else in the organization had been, even amongst the Upoi she had never felt such a connection to one being. A connection to a young man who frightened her.

"Anyway, I was given into the full custody of the Upoi, and they finished my training, until I decided to leave them over a year ago," Keorra answered.

"Your ability as a Soulreader captivated them," Skywalker urged her on, guessing at the one thing that would make her leave the only home she had ever known. "They have been desperate for young Soulreaders."

His insight surprised her. The Upoi were highly secretive, although they would allow any into their ranks that showed the potential to hear the hum. She nodded. "They began to bicker about my training. I had already surpassed the abilities of my predecessors, and they did not know what to do with me next. I became an object to barter with, a power token, so I left."

"That must have been hard."

"Just as hard as it must have been to leave the Temple," she admitted, once again seeking to turn the conversation from her to him. She never felt comfortable with such close investigation, and those green-blue eyes did nothing but investigate.

Ben squeezed his hands into fists at his side. "I had hoped to save my people."

"You sound as though you have failed," she pointed out.

He shuddered. "My visions of Kalla still persist."


	15. You're Not All Powerful

Chapter 15: You Aren't All Powerful

Tranx rubbed at the new prosthetic arm that had replaced the one that his Lord Nefarion had taken in his rage over the disaster of Bellalt. He had been awarded this replacement because of the great success in the first wave of battles against the Yuuzhan Vong. He knew that their inside man, Representative Zorel, was effectively manipulating his fellow Separatists, and it would not be long before the Devotees and Separatists were unified once again. As a smokescreen for another one of Nefarion's operatives, Tranx was preparing for a second assault wave against the Yuuzhan Vong.

He stood aboard the large Mon Cal flagship, outside the emerald world of Naboo, sat weighted in the black velvet backdrop of space. The Refugee Relief Movement had welcomed several thousand Vong after the long war against the extragalactic travelers, and many still lived amongst the Gungans and the Naboo themselves. If Ithor had raised anger and questions, then Naboo would finish the job.

"Initiate second wave," he ordered over the link that corresponded with the rest of his fleet, positioned just a short hyperjump from the other planetary systems that he and Nefarion had settled on. Now, the fate of those other worlds rested on the commanders of Nefarion's Black Clad army.

Rubbing his arm where flesh met metal, Tranx was thankful that Naboo was a peaceful planet, it would make its destruction a minor trial.

hr/hr

Anakin was on pins and needles. He felt the danger, yet he could not identify it. It seemed to be all around him, emanating from the serene beauty of Naboo, and yet he felt that the Naboo were the ones in danger. For a moment he wished for Ben's ability, to be able to see the future, to know what was ahead of him. But Ben was also tortured by what he saw, tortured to know that no matter what he did he could not stop it from coming.

He was in the throne room with Queen Pernillia, her regal manner making her very much like his mother; beside him were Analsa Vinn and Dorsca Cherrz, and gleaming as his metallic body shifted in the overhead light was protocol droid See-Threepio.

The Queen was amused by Threepio's antics, relieving Anakin of the always messy job of trying to dissuade Threepio from the very events he had been designed to attend. The golden droid had always held a special place in Anakin's heart, one of his earliest memories was of old 'Goldenrod', and Anakin counted him as one of the family. Ironic that he could speak more freely with a machine than with his own brother.

As the two Jedi, Yuuzhan Vong, and protocol droid studied the information that the palace volunteer security had gathered for them, Queen Pernillia worked at her desk, her long auburn hair loosened from the intricate weavings of her place of state, trailing down her shoulders over a cream jumpsuit. It surprised Anakin how informal the Queen was when alone with the tiny, if incredibly strange, group. She had taken a special liking to Analsa, asking for many audiences with the girl during their stay here in the palace at Theed. Analsa had graciously accepted, but Anakin did not need the Force to see that she did not do it out of joy for the Queen's company.

The more he got to know the mysterious Analsa Vinn, the more enigmatic he found that she was, a puzzle inside a puzzle inside a puzzle. There was a deep-seeded hatred and love for the planet of Naboo imbedded in Analsa, yet she fiercely tried to deny both. She was heavily secretive, and yet if Anakin asked she would recite an answer without even a pause. The kiss they had shared aboard the Falcon had only served to complicate the odd relationship they had developed. He had taught Analsa to sense the Yuuzhan Vong through the Force, had subconsciously wanted to train her to Knighthood, he could admit that now, but he could not abandon Ben.

Glancing up from the datapad he caught Analsa's eyes on him. "You're tense," she said without a doubt. "What's wrong?"

How can she do that? She shouldn't be able to do that. Not even Tahiri could read me this well, Anakin thought to himself. "I can feel a disturbance in the Force," he answered.

At the other end of the rectangular table, Cherrz nodded his sloped forehead furrowed in concern. "I too, feel the disturbance," Cherrz reiterated.

Why doesn't she feel it? Anakin wondered. It had amazed him that Analsa's ability to sense certain things was so selective. She had not been able to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in any great detail until Bellalt, when that large group of Yuuzhan Vong had been killed and they had followed another Vong group linked to Nefarion and his plans. Perhaps it took a large disturbance in the Force, such as the one they had felt upon their arrival on Naboo, to jar her sensitivity. And yet she can read you like a datapad.

From her desk, the Queen noticed their discussion, her green eyes bouncing from Anakin to Analsa and back again. "Is there a problem, Jedi Anakin?"

"There is a disturbance in the Force, Your Highness," Anakin revealed the truth. This Naboo Queen was too quick to give her the truth from a certain point of view, and Anakin had never liked to lie about things. Avoid permission - yes, but lie - no. "I feel that Naboo might be in danger."

At this Queen Pernillia stiffened. "In what sort of danger, Anakin?" she asked, using his first name in her fright.

Frustration struck Anakin and he shot up from the table, knocking over his chair in the process. "I wish I knew!" he exclaimed. The Force brought you back from the dead, and all you can do is sit here and try to find a way to help. You couldn't stop Uncle Luke's death, you let Ben go out into the very danger that Uncle Luke died to protect him from, and now there is something that threatens Naboo and you can't identify it.

Of all the things that Anakin had needed to get used to, there was still the one character trait that had passed on to him through his parental genes - he could not stand being helpless. If only he had Ben's sense of strategy! But you have your own gifts, Solo. Use them.

Belatedly he noticed the startled glances from his two companions and Queen Pernillia, even Threepio's unaltering eye sockets looked wider, as if the droid could gasp in surprise. Flushing furiously at his own ill discipline, Anakin reached down and righted his fallen chair. It gave him the time to compose himself, focus his thoughts and feelings.

Rising, he turned to face the beautiful Queen. "I'm sorry for my behavior, Your Highness."

"You have had a rude awakening," Queen Pernillia said.

iHow astute she is/i Anakin thought. But he could not keep relying on his resurrection as an excuse for every instance of bad behavior. He had used it to allow himself to kiss Tahiri, to further the breach between himself and Jacen even more. He could no longer rely on the past to make up his future. Not only would it hurt the people around him, but it would hinder his continued growth and learning.

"Regardless, I cannot use this as an excuse. I am a Jedi, trained to control and discipline; my outburst goes against each of those. I ask your forgiveness, Your Highness," Anakin said with a deep bow.

"Of course any sincere apology is accepted, Jedi Solo, forgive me for the demands I place upon you," the Queen returned in kind.

"You only wish to protect your people," Anakin assured her. "It is my wish as well."

Even as he tried to alleviate the Queen's fears, Anakin searched his mind, reached through the Force, pulled on every aspect of his training, trying to divine the disturbance he could feel increasingly stronger. Then it hit him. The disturbance in the Force when they arrived - yes he had felt this edginess, the skin-crawling feeling that had always been the sign of danger to a Jedi, and then the deaths of the Yuuzhan Vong ripping through him as though they were his own.

As this thought solidified in his mind, another one struck out at him. Naboo, wondrous, beautiful Naboo, the kind giving people who had opened their world to those who had once sought to destroy the galaxy, the very Yuuzhan Vong who were being hunted by Nefarion to start the war that the Sith would need to rise in power.

Anakin rushed forward, towards the Queen's desk. "Can you get a transmission from the Naboo Flight Control?" he demanded, all propriety leaving him as he came up behind the Queen's desk. "We need to know what's circling in Naboo space."

From behind him, he heard the click of Cherrz's toenails as they came across the tile in a fast trot. "You think another attack against my people?" the Yuuzhan Vong asked, following Anakin's lead and dashing to the other side of the Queen's desk. Only Analsa and Threepio seemed unable to move in this response.

With deft movements, the Queen worked the control panel inset in the deep rose wood. Anakin admired how her fingers did not even tremble. In the wake of a threat to her people, Queen Pernillia acted on reserved instinct, a serenity that mimicked the Jedi's. iHow come I no longer have that serenity/i

Instead, he answered Cherrz's question. "It makes sense. The Refugee Relief Group has opened the hyperlanes to Naboo for any who need relocation. I heard that some of your people opted to come to Naboo rather than rebuild. Nefarion is smart, and he has an inside line on everything." At this Analsa jerked, finally showing some sort of emotion. "If he wanted to permacrete the war he is propagating, he would rehit those that have already been wounded. The more personal the better." iWhen did I start sounding like Ben/i

"Who's Nefarion?" the queen asked, even as she finished the last of the connections.

Before Anakin could answer, an ear-shattering hiss filled and echoed in the Queen's throne room, and Anakin's heart sunk. "They've already taken out your aerial patrol," he deduced.

The Queen went pale, as though she were wearing the makeup of her state, fear clouding her green eyes in stormy confusion. "How is that possible?"

"The other attacks against Yuuzhan Vong worlds were instigated by a fleet responding to New Republic transponders," Anakin answered quickly, his mind moving like a hyperdrive overloaded. "Blast! How fast can you get your grounded defense force in the air?"

"You are speaking of a war I cannot condone," Queen Pernillia objected heatedly.

Anakin's ice-chipped eyes grew avid. "Would you rather have every Yuuzhan Vong on this planet slaughtered?" He could not help but feel as though he were arguing with Jacen; his brother had always felt that there had to be deliberation before action, as though Jacen had forgotten the Force's guidance even as he claimed to search for it.

The Queen bowed her head in defeat. "I will protect the innocent."

"Good, call them out," Anakin ordered.

While the Queen worked to get her Volunteer Defense Fleet called, Anakin rushed over to the datapad he and Cherrz had been poring over, searching for any clues that might lead them to where Ben had gone after he had left Naboo. It struck the older Jedi that he did not feel the same sort of urgency to find his cousin as he had back on Coruscant when Ben had left, there was however a stirring in the air as though a decision point was being made, and Anakin knew it rested on the battle that was about to take place. Was Naboo to be the added weight to finally push the Separatists back into bed with their Devotee brethren?

Snatching the datapad, he jacked it into the nearest communications relay. Hopefully, the Sith Lord's secretive fleet hadn't jammed communications yet, as they had in the first wave against the Yuuzhan Vong. The attacks were so close together - it had only been a week since Anakin had landed on Naboo, and already Nefarion was moving. He was bold, Anakin could give him that much. Subconsciously, Anakin wondered if Ben had predicted this, if his knack for strategy or his visions in the Force had given him a foreknowledge of these attacks. If so, could the son of Skywalker not act when innocent lives were in danger?

Anakin didn't have the time to ponder this, especially with the growing urgency he could feel in the Force, but it assaulted his mind regardless. He did not know what he would do if Ben knew of this attack and had remained underground, if his cousin was really becoming lost in his sorrow and thus open to the Dark Side. Did Ben not see this as the first steps of the path he feared?

Shaking his head to dispel the distracting thoughts, Anakin keyed the datapad to get in contact with the Temple on Coruscant. His fingers flew over the keypad, entering the codes that he had learned upon his rebirth and return to the Order. He put in the urgent notification, and pressed the send sequence. His breath caught in his chest as he waited for verification.

"Blast," he hissed. Nefarion's fleet worked fast.

Queen Pernillia was moving away from her desk and walking with fear-laden steps. "Pilots are heading to their ships," she reported.

Sarné was abruptly by her side, all mother-like characteristics gone and in their place came the hard visage of a warrior. Her hand rested lightly, but nonetheless threateningly, over the blaster holstered at her hip. "We must get you to safety, Your Highness."

"Yes, go. There's nothing more you can do here," Anakin agreed, seeing the battle play over the Queen's beautiful face. He understood the battle all too well, having seen it play on his mother's face a number of times. "You need to be there to secure Naboo after this is over." The Queen nodded, but with great effort. "I also need you to okay a ship for me."

That brought the emerald-green eyes fast on his face. "You're going to defend Naboo?"

"It feels right," Anakin told her. "If you have a fighter to spare, Analsa too."

"What of me?" Cherrz demanded. "These are my people."

Anakin hadn't forgotten about Dorsca Cherrz, but although the Yuuzhan Vong were no longer as averse to technology, that didn't mean that all of them were able with the technology, and sadly Cherrz was a terrible pilot. "Cherrz, this isn't your greatest strength. Stay with the Queen and protect her. There will be another time."

It was a long while before Cherrz nodded, reconciled with the thought that he could not help in this instance. He bowed his head towards Queen Pernillia. "If Her Highness will permit it."

"That would be greatly appreciated, domain Cherrz," the Queen said, after a nearly telepathic exchange with her handmaiden.

No sooner had she said it then the whole palace shook with the impact of turbolaser fire, bringing chunks of permacrete crashing down from the roof. Anakin and Cherrz managed to dodge them with ease, but the Queen was not as agile as a Jedi Knight or a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Thankfully, Analsa was in motion even before the shattered roof began to tumble - she bypassed a surprised Sarné and slammed into the Queen, shielding her with her body. Anakin reacted on instinct and threw out his hand, fingers splayed, in a display of Force manipulation. Most of the shattered roof hovered over them, but Anakin hadn't been able to get all of it and a rather large hunk slammed into the Queen and Analsa.

Anakin was moving towards them even before the dust cleared, shoving his already Force-captured pieces to the side, and removing the others that had landed on the two women. His heart was inexplicably pounding in his chest, and he moved with a speed that would have surprised him if he weren't so worried.

His eyes adjusted to find Queen Pernillia trying to get out from under an unconscious Analsa Vinn. Quickly Anakin knelt next to them, and levered Analsa into his arms. Putting a hand to cushion her limp head, he felt the sticky warmth of blood and knew that the large hunk of peremecrete had left a laceration. The Queen was helped to her feet by Cherrz, and Sarné nearly bowled the larger Yuuzhan Vong over in her attempt to get to her Queen.

"Are you alright, Your Highness?" Sarné asked, brushing the dirt and grime off of Queen Pernillia's smudged cream unisuit.

Harshly, Queen Pernillia pushed Sarné's hands away from her and turned her attention to Anakin, whose eyes had fallen closed in a Force trance, sending tendrils through Analsa's physical mind, checking for any permanent damage. "Is she alright, Jedi Anakin?" Queen Pernillia asked, brushing a lock of recalcitrant hair away from Analsa's forehead.

"She's given herself a concussion, and I've helped her into a Jedi healing trance," Anakin answered. He was a little shaken, he had sensed a core of good surrounded by a shadow of evil in his student. Was Analsa to follow the path that Ben feared?

Standing up in one fluid motion, Analsa still cradled in his arms, Anakin crossed to Cherrz and levered the unconscious Jedi student into the Yuuzhan Vong's awaiting arms. "Take care of them," he told Cherrz, gesturing his head first to Analsa and then to Queen Pernillia and Sarné. He faced the two women. "Your Highness, I'll need that ship."

Queen Pernillia nodded. "You'll have it. Go!"

It was a physical effort for Anakin to leave things the way they were, and he nearly turned back a number of times as he felt the palace raked by other rounds of turbolaser fire. Did Nefarion have a spy in Naboo to know enough that Cherrz was not the only Yuuzhan Vong working in the palace?

When he reached the palace docking bay, there was an officer waiting for him, a Colonel by his insignia, and he hurried Anakin to one of the sleek T-seraphed fighters. He noticed the Artoo unit jacked inside, and wished it was his Uncle's, the Artoo he had known since childhood. He wished for anything that was familiar - his parents, Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara, Jaina, even Jacen he would welcome with open arms, as long as his brother helped him through the tangled weave that represented the upcoming battle in the Force. He was lost, a newborn Calamari flopping on dry land.

As much as he tried to pretend that the world he had woken up to that day on Tatooine was not so unlike the world he had left, Anakin still found himself lost in the changes, petrified in indecision, even as old instincts kicked in. Piloting a fighter - that he could do, leading a group of Jedi in battle, anything but this limbo he felt. Caught between two worlds, each he needed to remember and adapt to.

Keying the autopilot, he let it guide him to where the rest of the Queen's Defense Force had already engaged the faked Republic Fleet. He could tell the Queen of Naboo that and be believed, but what about the Yuuzhan Vong that were specifically targeted? Would they be so willing to swallow a stolen transponder that the New Republic couldn't trace? Anakin had contacted the High Council and had been informed that his father had been sent to Mon Cal to discover how this information had been divulged to the Sith Lord. He hoped that his father worked quickly, or there was a terrible and long war ahead of the Republic.

Approaching the battle, Anakin tried to still his mind and let the Force flow through him, but he kept seeing Analsa prone in his arms, couldn't help but remember the core of light surrounded by the aura of darkness that he had touched in her mind. He knew that the kiss she had initiated between them on board the Falcon was not the end of their relationship, confusing him even further. Up until a while ago, he had still loved Tahiri, his friend from the childhood he had missed. He had jumped from seventeen to thirty-two in a matter of days, and he was hastening to catch up.

The first lance of laser fire brought the instinctive stillness he needed, forced him to push aside all his worries and cares and focus on the here and now, or else he would end up very dead, a place where even the Force wouldn't pull him from.

hr/hr

iYuuzhan Vong lay at his feet, rusted blood pooled around them from open wounds that had been cauterized by laser fire, the wounds torn open by their impact with the ground. Ben shivered as he saw more struck down by bolts of laser blasts, quickly he ran to each of them, trying to use the Force to heal those he could, but their essences slipped through his mental fingers like Tatooine sand. He closed his eyes against the torren,t but the smell of blood caught in his lungs and the taste of the dead lasted on his tongue. No matter what he did, he couldn't avoid the darkness that had fallen.

Forcing his eyes open, forcing himself to accept what he could not stop. As he took in his surroundings, a part of him remembered that this was but a vision, a Force-produced dream that either held the present or the future. Swinging wildly, he felt a shock as he recognized it as the planet of Naboo. The place where his grandfathers had fought side by side against the Trade Federation, a happy outcome before the devastation that the Emperor would precipitate in both their lives, Anakin Skywalker accepting it willingly, Obi-Wan doing everything in his power to stop it.

He realized how much he was like his mother's father in this instance, mindlessly doing everything he could to stop a darkness that came regardless of their actions. Obi-Wan Kenobi had been forced to wait out the passage of time to see his destiny; his grandson, Ben Skywalker, already knew his destiny. Where Obi-Wan had hope, Ben had none.

Then the scene shifted in his mind's eye, and he once again stood in the moonlight of darkness upon the Temple's tower, facing his future self. He did not need to see the face behind the cowl this time, to see his features aged with time to maturity, nor would he verbally refuse to accept this. What he did do was the answer to his dilemma. With long strides he ran off the top of the Temple, his body arching through the air for a moment before gravity took over and drove him down towards the earth of Coruscant. "Skywalker..."/i

Ben rocketed out of his bed in the quarters that had been provided to him by his surrogate uncle, sweat dotting his forehead and his exposed chest. His breathing was harsh and ragged, hitching on strained lungs. Above him, Keorra Cereaslean stood, looking taken aback by his abrupt waking and more than slightly concerned.

"Naboo's been attacked," she told him, turning away so that he could get out of his bed and dress. "Karrde sent me to tell you."

Ben fumbled with his pants, his tired mind trying to think straight from his sudden alarm. "Is the attack still going on?" He had gotten the feeling that the Naboo part of his vision was not of the past or future, but of the present.

"That's what our sentries said. Karrde thought you might like to know," Keorra said, explaining her presence over her shoulder.

Ben quickly shrugged into his tunic and grabbed for his boots, pushing his stockinged feet into them. "Does Uncle Talon have any sort of defense fleet that we could send for aid?"

She faced him, and Ben was surprised how her concern made him feel better in the wake of his terrible visions. "Most of it's with Shada, but we have a skeleton crew."

"Then call it out," Ben said.

"We can't leave Karrde so unprotected," Keorra argued. "It's my job to secure his welfare."

He frowned. "It's my job to secure the welfare of every member of the Republic," Ben countered, feeling anger rise despite its futility.

"You really believe that, don't you?" Keorra demanded. "That you have to save the galaxy, just like your parents." She scoffed at him. "You should worry more about saving yourself."

A scowl marred his smooth boyish features. "A Jedi thinks not of himself, but of the group at large."

"Perhaps if the Jedi had thought more about themselves, Palpatine wouldn't have razored them down, and your father wouldn't have had to pay the price he did, nor your grandfather," Keorra countered haughtily. "A person must save themselves before they can think to help another."

Ben blinked at her in surprise. "And if you're unsaveable?" he asked, stutteringly.

"I do not see an unreachable being before me, Ben Skywalker," Keorra said, her tone that of a Upoi Soulreader.

He gazed at her, mesmerized by the violet hue of her eyes. "Is that your professional, or personal, opinion?"

"Professional," she said, uncomfortable under his scrutiny. "Come on, Karrde's waiting."

Just as they were about to activate the door, Ben felt a shift in the Force and he pulled Keorra to the side wall, silencing her with a cupped hand over her mouth. With the Force, he pushed the door actuator; no sooner had the door swished open, than a silver armor-clad bounty hunter bounded through, his blaster pointed where he had expected Ben Skywalker to be.

In one swift motion, Ben shoved Keorra behind him and thrust a kick to the outstretched blaster-armed hand, his booted toe catching the bounty hunter's wrist, numbing it enough for Ben to Force-yank the blaster. But the bounty hunter was no amateur - he flipped backwards, drawing a second blaster in the process.

I should have caught that, Ben thought as the blaster trained on him. He pushed Keorra back against the wall with his body, shielding her further. I've grown so tired that I'm missing important precautions.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"And how did you get into this building undetected?" Keorra continued from behind him, her tone none the less commanding.

Bounty Hunter's weapon did not shy from its target, another sign that this was no green hunter they were dealing with. "I am known as the Slayyer."


	16. I Only Wish Ben were Here

Chapter 16: I Only Wish Ben Were Here

Ben swallowed, but otherwise he was as frozen as a protocol droid on Hoth, his whole energy focused on finding a way out of this mess. Behind him, he could feel Keorra trying to get out from behind him, the Upoi warrior not able to hide behind the Jedi. The young Seer was unsure of whether the Bounty Hunter was here for him or for Keorra; after all, they had both run away from the organizations that had been their homes.

Keorra's arm dropped to where her blaster was holstered, brushing Ben's back and thigh, making it possible for him to trace the movement. "Don't," he whispered to her. Louder, he addressed the Bounty Hunter. "What is your business here?"

The blaster muzzle had not moved from the kill mark on Ben, one the young Jedi knew would go right through him and strike Keorra just as fatally. Without seeming to move, Ben inched his hand closer to his lightsaber, where he had instantly strapped it to his waist when Keorra had woken him. He had all confidence that he could clear it before the Bounty Hunter even thought about fingering his trigger.

By the cock of the helmet, Ben read amusement in the Bounty Hunter. "You, kid," came a deep voice, harsh and grated through the helmet speaker/receiver.

Ben had been afraid of this - that he had put another person he cared about (he wasn't exactly sure when he started to care about Keorra, but it didn't matter, he cared for her just the same) in danger. "Archan Slayyer, your name proceeds you," Ben mused out loud, trying to keep the Bounty Hunter distracted long enough for him to think of a plan to get Keorra away safely. "If you're here for me, that means my life has been contracted out. Assassination is your game, not search and capture." Ben splayed his arms in front of him. "If it is my life you're after, take it." He cocked his head at the now-stunned Keorra. "But you let her go first."

"Very brave of you, boy, but I've been hired to take you alive," the Slayyer told him. "And I'm afraid I can't leave any witnesses," he continued, now moving his blaster to the one exposed side of Keorra.

Ben instantly moved to cover her, but the Upoi Soulreader continued to move behind him, leaving herself exposed to the bounty hunter's weapon. Was she trying to get herself killed? "This is no game," he hissed to the Upoi warrior. "He will kill you."

"You are so willing to give up your life?" she snapped back in his ear.

To end the nightmares, yes he would give up his life. Any Jedi would, to stop the rise of darkness, but there was no point to her death, no reason for her to give her life for his. "I assure you, if you kill her I will not be an easy captive," Ben threatened. "In fact, I will be no captive at all. Nefarion will not be happy if he learns you missed your opportunity by killing her."

"So sure of yourself, Jedi?" the Slayyer posed the question cockily, doubting that this young boy in front of him could evade him so easily. Ben got the feeling that the Slayyer enjoyed his job, and the ugliness that came with it. "Is it this Nefarion that wants you so badly that he will pay me a fortune to assure you're delivered safely?"

Ben did not even blink. Bounty Hunters on the whole usually didn't know who they really were contracted by, used to going through middle men, and a long line of them at that. Archan Slayyer, more of an assassin than a bounty hunter, would be used to working in the shadows of his employer, never caring who it was that paid him, as long as he got the amount promised. To answer the Slayyer, Ben just nodded.

Again he could feel Keorra steeling herself for action, and Ben did not like it. The girl was going to get herself killed before he could even negotiate her release. He feared meeting up with Nefarion, feared what he might do when he faced his father's killer, but he would rather face that than watch Keorra die. He could not let another die before him. Not when he was still reeling from his father's death.

An echoing huff came from the bounty hunter, the helmeted equivalent of the bounty hunter's laughter. "You try to threaten me with a name I do not even know, Jedi. I care little what this Nefarion will think if the girl shall die." The Slayyer stiffened. "Now stand aside and let us finish this."

Even as Keorra tightened her muscles to act, Ben erupted into motion, going from permanence to fluidity in the matter of a breath. His lightsaber was in hand even as he reached out to grasp the Bounty Hunter's blaster in a Force grip. Ben leaped high, snapping his right foot to kick Keorra out of the way, knowing that the stubborn Upoi warrior would get herself killed. Relief hit him as she stumbled away. Slayyer managed to get off one shot before Ben's blue blade cleaved the blaster muzzle in two, but the Bounty Hunter had dealt with Jedi before.

Following Ben's leap, Slayyer hit a switch on his arm plate, sending out a spool of tension cord that wrapped itself around Ben's legs. Throwing his weight on the cord, Slayyer brought Ben down to the ground with a resounding thump. The young Seer didn't have time to allow the momentary discomfort or the lack of oxygen the fall stole from him. He whirled his lightsaber in his hands, lifting his legs high enough so that the blade cut through the cord, then he rolled on his spin, shutting his lightsaber down long enough to flip himself backwards and to his feet, the energy blade sputtering to life as he once again faced the Slayyer.

With his feet bound with the cord, his maneuverability was greatly reduced, and Ben risked a level of concentration that might catapult him into another Force-induced vision, but one that could possibly ensure him a victory. He spotted Keorra, now reoriented from the kick he had given her, glaring at him with such venom that for a moment he remembered the glare that his mother used to give his father when she disagreed with something he had done. Uncle Talon had said Keorra had reminded him of Ben's mother, but this was uncanny.

He sent her a look that he hoped she would read as 'stay out of this', but he knew he was pressing his luck. Even if Keorra read him correctly, she would most likely ignore the warning. He did not linger long, however, on Keorra. Having twice tasted Ben's ability, Archan Slayyer had become wary of his young antagonist, but Ben knew better than to underestimate the Bounty Hunter.

Bounty Hunters range from the most incredibly skilled warriors to the incredibly inept, his mother had instructed him years ago. Whichever they are, they can still be dangerous. Make sure to never underestimate them. Ben knew that Archan Slayyer was the adept kind, and he watched the bounty hunter with equal wariness, while trying to keep Keorra from making a rash move.

_How do I keep getting in these types of situations?_ he asked himself. _It's not as though I look for them. In fact, I'm trying to avoid them as much as possible._

"Look," he addressed Archan Slayyer. "We can do this the easy way. I'll come with you willingly, as long as you let her and the rest of Karrde's people remain safe."

Keorra shook her head avidly, even as she reached for her blaster. Ben made a jerking gesture with his free hand, and her blaster leaped out of her holster and skittered across the floor, out of the reach of both the Upoi warrior and the Bounty Hunter. Ben couldn't afford Keorra ruining his negotiations at this stage, however he was prepared to Force-toss her weapon back to her if the need arose. He never liked disarming an ally, but right now it was necessary so that Keorra did not get trigger-happy.

Ben hoped that Slayyer could lead him to Nefarion. If they could sniff the Sith Lord out and whoever his contacts might be, it would be easier to thwart Nefarion's plans. For that to happen Ben needed Archan Slayyer alive, and Keorra threatened that plan.

Archan Slayyer's dark visor band scrutinized him. "How can I be assured of your cooperation, Jedi?"

As a sign of his cooperation, Ben extinguished his lightsaber and held it out for the Bounty Hunter. Apparent complacency now may fool Slayyer, so that when Ben really needed to show rebellion Slayyer wouldn't anticipate it. But Slayyer grimaced away from the saber pommel. "This is a trick," the Bounty Hunter accused.

"Now, McCal!" Keorra suddenly called out.

Ben was shocked to see a carefully placed blaster bolt strike out at the Bounty Hunter in a crack between Slayyer's armor, and the man crumpled to the ground in an instant. For a moment, all Ben could do was look at the unexpectedly fallen body, in the next moment he was next to the wounded Bounty Hunter, checking his vitals. Under his seeking fingertips he felt the Bounty Hunter's pulse beat against his skin. Archan Slayyer was alive, but just barely - if his heart rhythm was any indication.

"He's alive," Ben said, hefting the larger Bounty Hunter into his arms.

Keorra's violet eyes went as wide as credit chits. "What the hell are you doing?"

"He has information on the man who hired him. If I can find that man, I can stop the impending war with the Yuuzhan Vong," Ben snapped at her, glaring steel. "That's why I didn't put that much of a fight up. I wanted him to take me. Certainly you must have read that."

Turning away from his glare she found a spot on the tile floor she found intriguing. "I didn't know for what purpose you wanted to be taken, but I did read you."

"You may not understand what I am doing, but I would hope you would trust me," Ben said, almost pleadingly. He needed someone to trust him.

Her violet eyes were alight with fire. "How can I trust you when you don't even trust yourself?"

"I don't need a protector," Ben argued.

Keorra swiped her blaster off of the floor. "Nor do I. The next time you disarm me, be careful that it is not you the blaster bolt is aimed for."

"Where is the medical unit?" Ben demanded, not wanting to go into his motives with this maddening woman.

"You're going to save him after he just tried to take your life?" Keorra countered a question with a question.

Ben shook his head. "He was only trying to kidnap me."

"And there's a difference?" Keorra scoffed.

"There is to me," Ben assured her. "The medical unit?"

"McCal," Keorra addressed her Suul friend. "Show Skywalker to the medical wing." She brought her attention back to Ben. "I'm informing Karrde of this."

"Fine, I need to talk to him anyway about sending the fleet out to Naboo," Ben said, and nodded McCal forward.

Keorra growled at him. "You ask much, Skywalker."

"Only ask what the Force wishes," Ben said as he followed McCal out.

The ancient Suul did not speak as he led Ben through the corridors. Ben was grateful for the silence, he needed to concentrate on gaining control of his grip on the Force. He had come close to losing it back there, and knew that he needed to rest his mind. The Bounty Hunter was not incredibly large, but much bulkier than Ben, and it was an odd sight as the Seer lugged Archan Slayyer through Talon Karrde's safehouse.

Ben's muscles cried with joy when he levered the Bounty Hunter onto a medical bunk and let Uncle Talon's people take care of him. It was a few minutes of watching the deft movements of the medics before Ben realized that McCal was watching him. "You dislike the way I treated her back there?" he posed the question, without even turning to the ancient Suul.

"You treat this bounty hunter with more respect," McCal sneered at Archan Slayyer.

"He would have killed her," Ben whispered.

McCal came back to gauging him. "Do you have no faith in her abilities?"

"It was not her abilities that I worried about. You never underestimate an assassin because they kill without thought, without meaning. He would have killed her and felt nothing in doing so as long as he accomplished the job he was hired to do," Ben explained. "To ensure that didn't happen, I would have let him take me, as long as she remained safe."

"Karrde will side with you?" the ancient Suul guessed.

Ben shrugged. "I believe Uncle Talon will see why I made the decision I did."

"Ben Skywalker, you had better explain why you disarmed my head of security and nearly allowed yourself to be captured by the Bounty Hunter Archan Slayyer," Karrde bellowed as he approached the medical wing, his voice carrying in advance of his body.

"Speak of the Sith," Ben said, and turned to head off his irate uncle, pausing long enough to order the medics to keep Slayyer unconscious. McCal nodded the order forward, and followed Ben out of the medical wing.

Karrde was certainly in the biggest snit Ben had ever seen him in. Talon Karrde was a reserved sort and was not prone to outbursts, but Ben had managed to send him into quite a few in his short years. Fixing the smile that always melted his surrogate uncle, Ben greeted Karrde. "Uncle Talon, you have some questions for me?"

"Don't give me that innocent look, Ben," Uncle Talon warned. "Your father's didn't work on me, and yours certainly won't."

"We can discuss this later," Ben dodged. "Naboo is under attack, and I have already been delayed enough by Slayyer. I've already signaled Artoo to my X-wing, and he'll be waiting for me. I'd like to take a percentage of your space defense fleet with me to Naboo, and McCal here, to keep an eye on Slayyer. Also, see what information you can pry out of him about who hired him. Apparently there is a sizeable bounty on my head."

Karrde watched him in awed surprise, and even let Ben pass him as the young Seer headed for his X-wing. Ben was never so demanding, but circumstances were calling for it - he needed to get to Naboo, he could feel it in the Force and he was determined to change at least that part of this morning's vision.

"Keorra, follow my rebellious nephew to Naboo with a contingent of our best pilots," Karrde ordered his chief of security.

Ben finally allowed himself to look at the girl who was already fuming at her previous mistreatment. Keorra, however, did not deem him worthy of her scrutiny. "Boss, that leaves you unprotected."

"I've called Shada in. She's close to home base, and should be here in a matter of hours," Karrde said, giving Ben a pointed look as if to say 'don't push it, Skywalker'. Ben just smiled.

So Uncle Talon was finally going to take the leap of faith that was marriage. Ben had not needed a vision to know that eventually his uncle would. However, Ben could not wait to exchange these happy tidings, Naboo was calling him. "If you're to come with me, it has to be now," he addressed Keorra.

"Fine," the Upoi Soulreader hissed, and headed off without another word.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I only wish Ben were here," Anakin mused to himself inside the cockpit of his borrowed Naboo fighter.

Despite the best efforts of the Naboo Space Defense Fleet, the fake Republic fleet was mowing them down. What was obviously a fleet that only took part in drills and mock battles desperately lacked the battle hardness that the other fleet possessed. It was only a matter of time before Nefarion's fleet got past their defenses and destroyed the Yuuzhan Vong that were helpless below on the surface of the planet. Anakin knew that they were only a delaying tactic to the inevitable. But a tactic that the Force was willing inside of him. Whatever else had happened to him since his rebirth, he still trusted the Force's guidance.

"One and Five, fall in behind me, we're going to drill through the permacrete," Anakin ordered. A long chain of Republic-style fighters were forming a barrier as if to plow through the weak Naboo Space Defense, and Anakin wanted to pick the chain apart before they got the momentum that would allow such a maneuver. Anakin frowned as the sleek ships formed up behind him. The fighters were top of the line, shields the strongest that could be found (legally), with excellent turbolasers, but he knew that despite the fleet's technical superiority, many of the Naboo would die, perhaps himself included.

It wouldn't be the first time, Anakin thought derisively, juking his fighter as he instinctively dodged laser fire from the aggressive fleet.

Sometime during the battle, the Naboo Space Defense had handed command over to him, he wasn't exactly sure when and how, but he found himself directing a large group of finely trained but ill-experienced fighter pilots. Anakin had spent his time in dogfights, had seen friends struck down, helpless to stop it. His sister, Jaina, he knew, was far more experienced than he was in such things. Since he was wishing for the impossible, he wished for her appearance, too.

His trio drilled into the enemy fleet, causing breaks in the offense line that was ever encroaching upon Naboo gravity. It wouldn't take much more for them to break through, and the Naboo pilots under his direction knew it, yet they continued to astound him in how quickly they learned from just the lessons in this battle. As the head of the makeshift spear, Anakin drew most of the fire, leaving One and Five to pummel the firing fighters as Anakin danced his fighter around the energy lances.

As soon as he crossed through the line of approaching fighters, Anakin sent the fighter into a climb, arching it up and over the fleet, barrel-rolling when the laser fire traced after him. Although he had become acquainted with Yuuzhan Vong technology, actually physically thrived amongst it, Anakin had missed the feel of metal under his fingers, the hum of engines thrumming through the ship. He was in his element, and for a rare and brief moment he felt at home.

So far, Nefarion's fleet hadn't played the vanishing act that it had on Bellalt; such a cloaking device would be a hard to get around, with him as the only Jedi who could trace the living beings through relative space. Anakin was grateful for that small consolation.

Below him, Five's climb wasn't sharp enough, and the frigate sentries sitting just outside of the offensive ring picked the Naboo fighter off with lances of red light. Anakin's stomach clenched as he felt the death in the Force, a sick feeling that rolled around his stomach, tumbling in to join the emotions that had accompanied the other deaths of his shrinking Naboo fleet. Anakin pulled his mind from the nausea and focused on his flying. If he were to keep any others from joining the Force, he would have to fly better than he ever had before.

He switched his comm on. "This is Jedi Anakin Solo, stay as far away from those frigate sentries as you possibly can. Concentrate on the fighters."

He received a responding click from each of the Naboo fighters, some of them verbally voicing their agreement. Those sentries were what really worried Anakin. The fighters they could probably fight off, but those large frigates were posing a problem. Short of flying into them, Anakin couldn't hazard a guess as to how to eliminate their threat.

"Form up and stay alert," he continued before signing off. He could feel the Force swirling, warning of an upcoming event, whether good or bad Anakin couldn't discern. He suddenly caught a glimpse of what Ben must experience in every vision, trying to put the pieces together to form what would eventually become reality. It softened his heart against his cousin, who, after Analsa's sacrifice, Anakin couldn't help but feel frustrated with.

A sense of announcement flickered towards Anakin directly, even before his proximity indicators began flashing in cautionary yellows. Anakin's comm beeped, signaling that he was being hailed, and he was quick to snap it on, already having recognized the sense of announcement.

"Ben!" he exclaimed. "Boy, am I glad to see you." He scanned his proximity screen. "Who do you have with you?"

"Uncle Talon's fleet," Ben answered, sounding slightly embarrassed. Anakin understood. Ben had not wanted to be found, but here he was, the Force practically trumpeting his arrival to the very people he had wanted to hide from.

"Uncle Talon?" Anakin asked.

There was a chuckle over his earset, feminine and caustic. "Talon Karrde," it informed him.

Anakin's ship danced, avoiding several rounds of blaster fire. "Well, I'll have to personally thank Karrde. We are in some bad bantha dung here, Ben."

"I know," Ben responded. "I've sent some of our cruisers, we don't have many of them, to take care of those large Republic-class frigates. We're not large, but hopefully we can scare them off enough for a retreat."

Anakin nodded, knowing that Ben wouldn't see the gesture. "What do you suggest?" He trusted Ben's ability to discern a situation and strategize a solution for it.

"Two groups. You seem to have some good pilots, but they don't have much experience, so I say we mix and shuffle. I'll give you half of Karrde's fleet, and you give me half of yours. Then divide and conquer," Ben paused for a moment. "Too bad you don't have Valin with you, he's pretty good with a fighter, we could have had three groups."

"Ben, Valin's dead," Anakin told him solemnly.

"What? How?" Ben snapped, the words exploding from his mouth.

"I'll explain later," Anakin dodged the questions, thankful for the small respite before he explained that Valin had died leading the Jedi team away from Ben. His cousin would feel responsible for a death that wasn't his fault. Something he didn't need in a time when he thought he was bound to bring the galaxy to its knees. "Let's clear the spaceways, Ben."

He was trying to urge his cousin off the subject, but although Ben guided his fleet into merging with Anakin's, he could tell that the young Seer was still upset by Valin Horn's death. From what Anakin had gathered, Ben and Valin had never been each other's favorite people, up until the battle for Bellalt, there they had found common ground and a truce. Anakin blinked back inexplicable tears. So much death in such a small time, and yet Anakin Solo had returned from the dead. The Force had willed it, and he felt guilty for his life.

Just as he gained control of his emotions, the Force darkened with yet another powerful disturbance, this time the deaths of Yuuzhan Vong. Gritting his teeth, he used the life around him to fill in the emptiness of the rents the Yuuzhan Vong's death caused in the Force. He felt Ben's turmoil, as he too struggled to come to terms with such a large disturbance in the Force. Anakin was reminded that Ben had no such defense as he did, that his poor cousin would see their deaths, feel the emptiness and the cold, and would be helpless to fight against it.

"Ben," he called over his helmet inset speaker, not caring who else heard the two agonizing Jedi. "Concentrate on the light of the living," he instructed his cousin and apprentice. "Let their warmth shield you from the deaths."

It was a while before Ben answered. "I can't, Anakin. I can't allow such a deep connection to the Force or I'll get caught into it."

"You've done it before," Anakin argued, wondering what had happened to Ben during their separation.

"Just trust me that I can't," Ben intoned.

That feminine voice came back to snap at Ben. "Skywalker, what in Coruscant's seven moons is going on?"

For a moment Anakin was thrown back in time to when his Aunt Mara and Uncle Luke were very much alive, and 'Skywalker' was an endearment Mara used to address her husband. Whoever this woman was, did she feel something for his cousin, and if so, would it take ten years, as it had for Mara and Luke, for them to finally admit it?

"Other planets that hold Yuuzhan Vong are being attacked, and they don't have the benefit of our assistance. Anakin and I can feel their deaths," Ben answered back, not heatedly but with resignation in his voice. "Keorra, turn to point 09, De'sora needs to be covered."

Instantly, the X-wing that had been sidled up next to Ben's veered off and dropped to join De'sora and sector point 09. "New friend?" Anakin asked.

"She works for Uncle Talon," Ben answered.

"Has she threatened to kill you yet?" Anakin joked, trying to let the levity distract Ben from the painful disturbance in the Force.

"A couple of times, but I didn't take her seriously. Why?" Ben asked, sounding confused.

Anakin just shook his head, amazed at how innocent Ben could be about such things. He could see the future, but when it came down to it, Ben was just a boy, barely turned seventeen. What a way to spend your birthday, in the midst of a battle. He should have been celebrating with his parents, being with his family, but the Force had deemed a different life for him.

"Just a thought," he answered. realizing he had been silent for a long while.

Anakin turned his mind to the battle. and tried to ignore the echoing disturbances in the Force.


	17. In Grave Danger, You Are

Chapter 17: In Grave Danger, You Are

Tadeo and Aunecah Fel walked hand in hand through the integrated native and alien forests of Coruscant. The planet's primary was tickling the waters of the lake ahead, promising the suddenness of nightfall. The two Fel children knew that they should have asked permission before completing the assignment that Uncle Anakin had given them, but Auni had been insistent.

Now, as the sun sunk lower and lower behind the horizon and they began to shiver in their students' tunics and robes, Auni and Tad began to wonder if they had made the best decision. Tad squeezed harder on his sister's hand as the overhead tree branches and leaves provided an umbrella covering against the little remaining rays of light. The three-year-old still had a fear of the dark, and although he felt safe in the presence of his older sister, he was concerned by the shadows that shifted under the failing light.

"Auni, let's go back," he stuttered in the cold, his breath catching in the autumnal air.

Aunecah stared down at her brother, giving him a disgusted look. "You aren't scared, are you, Tad?"

The boy's lower lip jutted out in defiance of his sister's harsh accusation. "No way," he argued vehemently. "Benny says we should never leave the Temple without Momma's permission."

"Well, Benny left us, Tad. He made Momma, Grandma, and Grandpa upset. Uncle Anakin left too, and so we have to learn how to touch the Yuuzhan Vong ourselves," Auni said matter-of-factly.

Tad now sucked on his lip, trying to stave off the pain at missing his mother's cousin. Benny was not supposed to leave, although he had not left like Uncle Luke. Tad's dreams had been nightmares really of bad men coming to hurt Benny. He had not told Momma and Papa about the really bad dream, about the man dressed in black, as dark as the night that Tad feared, who would reach out a hand to Benny. Tad shivered, and it had nothing to do with the colder nights on Coruscant.

"I can sense the Yuuzhan Vong," Tad said, squeezing Auni's hand a little tighter.

Auni sniffed in the way that meant she was uncomfortable and trying to show her elderly superiority, a sign Tad had learned even before he could speak. "That's why I need your help, Tad."

Auni led them deeper into the integrated forest, the tiny legs of the Fel children avoiding the twisting multicolored Auna vines. Reaching up, Tad grabbed a branch of one of the Fasha trees that was leaning due to the change of season, and felt the alien sense of the Yuuzhan Vong. He only tugged on it for a second, though, before Auni hastened him forward.

"Why do we have to go so far?" Tad whined the question. He was tired, it was late, and he didn't need the Force to know that Momma and Papa were not going to be happy about their little excursion.

"Because there is more Yuuzhan Vong creatures deeper in the Force, Tad," Aunecah replied, as if this was the most obvious thing the in the universe. "Now will you stop complaining?"

"I'm tired," Tad continued to protest in the way only three-year-olds knew how: loud and high-pitched.

"What if I promise to let you play with me and Tipoc tomorrow," Aunecah said, waving the bait in front of her brother's nose.

Cocking his head to one side, Tad considered this with as much concentration as an attorney considering a plea bargain. Tipoc and Auni were best friends, and rarely included Tad in their adventures; the fact that Auni was even considering it told Tad that his sister was desperate. Despite his tiredness, he decided that this was too good to pass up.

"Alright, but you promised," Tad reminded.

Aunecah raised an imaginary lightsaber in a salute. "May the Force leave me and never return," she vowed solemnly.

Tad knew that she was true to this oath - no one took it at the Temple who was a Jedi and didn't mean to keep their promise. As they continued to delve deeper into the forest, Tad tried to focus his mind on anything else but the ever-shifting shadows. He found that most often his mind turned to his mother's cousin.

"Auni, do you think Ben will come soon?" he asked, struggling over a large mound of twisting vines.

Aunecah grabbed him from under his arms and hauled him over.

"Ben left us for his own reason," Aunecah answered. "You heard what Momma says, Uncle Anakin will get him back."

"What if Benny doesn't wanna come back?" Tad pressed the question that scared him the most.

The older Fel child stopped and faced her brother. "Tad, why wouldn't he want to come home?"

Tad never liked it when Auni was overly nice to him; as brother and sister, sometimes they felt it was their Force-given duty to argue, and when Auni was nice it meant something bad was happening and nobody was telling him. "Benny's scared, and I miss him," Tad admitted.

"We all miss him, Tad," Aunecah assured him.

Deep down, Tad knew that Aunecah loved Ben as much as he did, even if Auni couldn't understand their mother's cousin like he did. There was a special bond between Ben Skywalker and Tadeo Fel, one destined by the Force, although neither boy knew it yet. Tad was just beginning to experience the nature of a Seer, although he could not predict things the way that Ben did. Now Tadeo Fel saw the possibilities, the many threads that the Force could pass down through, where Ben saw the distinct, what would happen, visions that cast him into sorrow.

Night settled over Coruscant, and the many insects, some purely Yuuzhan Vong or native to the galaxy, others a strange combination of the two. Tad was grateful for the large amount of light that the seven clustered moons of Coruscant provided the forest, the areas that it lightened, and the path that it showed before him and Auni.

It was due to this light that he saw the shine of metallic chrome. He squinted his green eyes, trying to discern a shape in the distance of shadow. "Auni," he said, pulling his sister's hand back to stop her. "There's somfun over there," he told her, pointing in the direction of the shining metal.

Aunecah followed his finger. "It's a ship," she breathed. "Come on, let's check it out." If there was one thing that Aunecah had inherited from both parents, it was her love for machinery, and a ship sitting in the middle of the forest was too much of a temptation to check out.

Together, the two Fel children traversed over the vine-twisted and root-encrusted surface of Coruscant, to the ship that was beyond anything Tad had ever seen in his short three years of life. It was a sleek black wedge shape, that had two TIE Fighter-like fins on either side of it; from out of the cockpit the front came to such a lethal point that it might as well have been a dagger in the sky.

"Auni, what kind of ship is this?" the little boy murmured as his sister led him around the enigmatic ship.

"I don't know," she said thoughtfully, her lower lip caught between her teeth as she reached up to touch the black metallic surface. She brushed her fingers against the surface and drew them up to her face to scrutinize them. "It's not very dirty, it hasn't been here for very long."

Tad pulled against his dazzled sister until Aunecah let go of his hand, and he went to the back of the ship, where he had spotted the access ramp. Walking up to the control pad, he put his chubby fingered hand over the inset keys, and tried to picture the code, like his mother, Uncle Luke, and Ben had taught him. Without thinking, his fingers flew over the keypad, punching in the correct code.

The access hatch hissed open, swinging down with compressed air. He bounded up the ramp, his tiny legs pushing him up with little difficulty. Inside, red light tantalized him with curiosity, and he entered without thinking of the consequences. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the door swung closed. He ran to it, pushing it with his arms and feeling a cold ball sit in the bottom of his stomach. Tears coursed down his cheeks as he realized that the control panel was set too high for him to use the same trick he had before.

Reaching out to his sister and mother, his grandmother, Uncle Jacen and Aunt Tahiri, anyone he could think of in his circle of friends and family, he touched them with the Force, and emitted a high-pitched mental scream.

hr

Inside one of the conference rooms at the NRI Security Building on Mon Calamari, Han Solo and his Jedi team sat around a glass table filled with water and some of the indigenous fish that graced the oceans of Mon Cal. It had been nearly a week since their arrival, and they had gotten to the very point that Han had predicted; nowhere fast. Yet Gyser Feld insisted that they continue the search of the records that were sent to Mon Cal from every NRI office in the galaxy.

The whole team seemed disheartened by the lack of progress, and Han himself had contemplated using some of the less-than-diplomatic approaches he had used in his smuggling days to convince Feld that this fruitless search was coming to an end. Maddeningly, Feld managed to get Chief of State Tiv's backing on the whole mess of an investigation, and Han was forced to continue this wild tauntaun chase.

Spreading his hands wide, Han leaned back in his conforming chair. "I don't know why I'm asking this, but do we have any leads?"

The whole table seemed to share in a combinative snort. "In a word, Captain. No," Athaliah answered. "I don't know how long we've spent going through those terminal records, but there is nothing to indicate that there was an untimely or inappropriate log. To be honest, Captain, this is not our specialty. We're covert agents in the Order, we can spot a spy in the flesh, but computer terminals have no feelings, no intentions."

Han nodded, feeling as frustrated as the rest of his team. "I understand your concerns, Athaliah, and believe me, I've been trying to convince Feld of that. However, my wife's influence hasn't quite made the diplomatic effect she would like." He laced his fingers in front of him. "I've spoken with my son, Jacen, and he has agreed to make contact with Chief Tiv. Jacen has some sway as the liaison to the Republic. Hopefully, with his pull we can be out of here in a couple of days." He paused for a moment. "But we still need a jumping-off point once we've got our freedom back. Anything suspicious? Amodt, what have you got on Feld?"

Amodt, whose pensive manner reminded Han of Luke and Ben so fully that he felt a pang of regret that the Skywalker family continued to be pulled apart, stroked his chin for a moment before answering. "Feld's proven to be a ladies' man, Captain. He frequents the nightclubs that have started to dot Mon Cal since the New Republic came to be seated here, but nothing incriminating. To be honest, Captain, I'm not sure what you want me to find."

"I'm not sure what I want you to find either, Amodt," Han said. "But I think you're on the right track. Athaliah, do you want to do some of that covert operation stuff you were talking about?"

A cultured dark eyebrow cocked in unrestrained curiosity. "What do you have in mind, Captain?"

"How do you feel about checking out the local scene?" Han answered the question with a question.

Athaliah caught his gist, and gave a wicked smile. "I understand you perfectly, Captain."

hr

Choking smoke was the most appealing factor of the nightclub in the slummier parts of Mon Cal, it hid the cracked and peeling paint on the walls, underneath the slightly less identifiable substances that were caked on the permacrete. Shifting in the outfit that was much more revealing than her Jedi clothes, Athaliah sipped at the blue-colored liquid in her hand. She had stripped out of the prosthetic skin and eye color replacements that had made her appear the Yosorian delegate that the group's cover had required her to be.

Around her drunken Calamarians stumbled out of the nightclub, some of them in the arms of newfound friends, and sharing their new agreement in loud, lewd, tongues. Athaliah had long since stopped being surprised by such behavior, but she couldn't understand why Han thought Feld would come here. This hardly seemed the place that the Republic's Home Head of Security would frequent, even in his dalliances.

Shock coursed through her in the next few minutes when Gyser Feld came trotting in. He headed for the bar almost immediately, the bartender already preparing his drink, as though Feld frequented this place often. Athaliah noticed that Feld had freed himself of all markings that might identify him as an officer in the New Republic. iI wonder if his ambiguity comes off the moment he's got a pretty girl on his arm/i, Athaliah thought snidely to herself.

Which was her part in this little game of intrigue. To see how far Gyser Feld would go… It would have been easier if she had not already been introduced to the man, whom she found personally repulsive, as she did most political types - and Athaliah was well aware that Feld's job was all for the glamour.

She waited for him to spot her - just because the man was a limelight-seeking sleaze didn't mean that he wasn't good at his job. Sometimes it was the good ones that fell the fastest. He was halfway through his third drink when he deigned to notice her. Athaliah was impressed that he managed not to choke on the sudden swallow that was visible in his thin-skinned neck. He gulped the rest of his drink before turning to fully face her.

She gave him an incredible exaggerated seductive smile. "Tough day, Feld?"

The man lapped up the bait like mother's milk. "You have no idea, Ms. Torran," he replied, returning her grin.

Quickly they engaged in conversation, Feld plastering the both of them with more and more alcohol and Athaliah using the Force to extract the toxins from her body. When she felt he was adequately drunk, she leaned over, pressing her lips against his in a deep kiss, somewhat sickening the second-generation Alderaanian Jedi.

"Perhaps I can help you with your troubles," she whispered into Feld's ear.

Through his drunken stupor, Feld smiled ridiculously at her. "I bet you could."

He snatched up her hand, Athaliah pretending to actually match his excitement. Feld led her through the bar and out the front door, where abruptly he snapped up straight, before slumping into Athaliah's awaiting arms. Across the hoverstreet, dartgun still in hand, was Harmon Amodt, a concerned look on his face. She knew that Harmon had not liked this idea at all, had only gone along with it because the famous Han Solo had suggested it.

She waved at him to let him know that she was all right, and sent a burst of reassurance through the Force. There weren't many at the Temple who knew about their feelings for one another, and they had both made it a point to keep it a secret. For two years they had kept the ruse going with none of their friends the wiser. Although they both knew that there was nothing wrong about their relationship, they also knew that not many Jedi-Jedi marriages worked out. Few like the now-deceased Masters Skywalker had the happy endings that were dreamed about.

Several couples passed her before Captain Solo arrived in the speeder. She passed off their silent inquiries with a simple, "Man can't hold his liquor", before Captain Solo helped lever the ungainly weight of the large head of security. She slid into the back seat with the unconscious man, settling her riding skirt before initiating the door lock.

"Nice work, Torran," Captain Solo said as Harmon came to slide in next to him in the passenger seat.

Athaliah herself couldn't help but fall under the spell of the Solo charm. This man had, after all, married the princess of her parents' home planet. "Thank you, Captain Solo."

Harmon passed her another hypospray of sedative. "Here, you might need this," he said, lingering the contact as the fingers brushed.

"Good shot," she congratulated, as her fingers briefly closed over his. "Where to next, Captain?" she asked Han.

"We check out Security Chief Feld's quarters," Han answered. "Let's keep this little operation to ourselves. The Council already has a lecture built up for Anakin, I don't feel like being next to him when they issue it."

Athaliah and Harmon exchanged amused looks. "Absolutely, Captain," she assured him.

hr

Aunecah Fel clutched her head as she ran through the integrated forests of Coruscant, trying to physically press her brother's mental cries from rebounding in her head. Tears of complete child fright were coursing down her round cheeks, her pumping legs were being cut up as she dashed through thorned vines that held more of the Yuuzhan Vong bestial attributes. She stumbled a number of times, when her legs could not keep up with her headlong dash.

Up ahead, closer to the Temple, she could feel her mother's warm presence like a beacon, guiding her. If circumstances weren't so dire, Auni might have been afraid to face her mother in the wake of her disobedience, but Tad was in trouble, and the young girl loved her brother more than anything.

It was only when she could see her mother in the light of Coruscant's seven moons that Auni noticed that Grandma and Papa had come along with her. Momma ran up to her and engulfed her in a hug, before placing a hand on her forehead and quieting Tad's mental cries. Tears of relief replaced the ones of fear.

"Where's Tad, Auni?" Papa asked, as Momma passed her over to Grandma Leia.

"We found a ship," Aunecah explained on a hiccup of air, trying desperately to remember everything Uncle Luke had taught her about remaining calm. Not an easy thing for a nine-year-old. "I think he's inside."

"It's alright, Auni. We'll find him," Grandma Leia said, soothing back Auni's hair from her forehead. A gentle hand trailed down to Auni's painfully scratched and bleeding legs, and almost instantly Auni felt the relief provided by Grandma's manipulation of the Force. "We'll have to have a healer look over her legs after we get Tad," Grandma told her parents as they continued to hurry through the forest.

Momma tossed her head back towards them. "Auni are you alright?" she checked.

Bravely, Aunecah bit her lip and nodded for her mother. "My legs only hurt a little."

Papa gave her a fond smile for her bravery, and gave her cheek a gentle caress. "Jai, can you still feel him?" he asked Momma.

"He's up ahead, but his cries have gone softer. Auni, what kind of ship was it?"

"I've never seen anything like it, Momma," Aunecah answered on a breath of awe.

Reaching the ship, none of the grown-ups stopped to admire it as Auni and Tad had, but ran around it, looking for an entrance. Momma ran to the green glowing keypad once they had, and placed her hand over it, briefly closing her wildly worried eyes. Her eyes snapped open, and Momma's fingers leapt over the keypad without pause; the access ramp lowered, but there was no sign of Tad.

"Tad?" Momma called, as the three grown-ups ran up into the belly of the ship.

They found Tad under one of the consoles, curled up into a ball and rocking himself back and forth. Momma knelt down next to him and opened her arms to her little boy. "Tad, Momma's here, Tad," Jaina whispered softly, soothingly.

"Momma?" the little boy's head came up, tears caught in his green eyes. Like a spring, Tad rocketed into Momma's arms, his own pudgy appendages coming to encircle his mother's neck. With a sharp sigh of relief, Momma tightened her grip on Tad, slowly getting to her feet. Papa hugged them both quickly, tightly. The he held out his arms to Auni, and she leaped from her grandmother's grasp to her father.

Then the three grown-ups took their first glance inside the strange ship. It was small, compact, much too tight for the three adults standing inside of it, and they had to slide past one another as they each found something new to scrutinize.

"What is this?" Papa asked.

Momma screwed up her features in concentration. "Those side pie-plate fins are very reminiscent of the TIE Fighter, but this ship is new, constructed within the standard year, I would say."

"The wedge shape reminds me of the Star Destroyer," Grandma muttered thoughtfully. "But some of it has the markings of Old Republic technology."

Papa and Momma nodded. "There's definitely an Imperial feel to it."

"Bad man built it," Tad suddenly spoke up, from his placed slumped against Momma's shoulder. "Bad man who wants Benny."

Momma exchanged a concerned look with Grandma. "Oh, no."

"It looks like we've found our spy," Grandma said.

"How long do you think it has been here?" Papa asked. "That way we can tell how long our spy has been here."

Momma walked over to the console and ran her fingers over it, hefting Tad in her arm so as not to lose her balance. "Maybe we can find out. Mom, Jag, take the kids back to the Temple. I'll see what I can find out about our little pal here."

Papa shook his head. "I don't want to leave you."

"Take the kids, I'll be fine," Momma insisted, brushing a finger over his cheek. "Whoever our spy is, they're not here now."

"I'll be back," Papa promised. He looked to his mother-in-law. "If you'll watch the children."

"Of course," Grandma said, taking Tad from Momma's arms. "Be careful. There is a dark stir to the Force."

hr

Ships made into shadows by the cloaking devices the Sith Lord Nefarion had found in one of the Emperor's few known storehouses lowered to the soft marsh of Coruscant. It was one of the last shuttles to arrive on the Jedi's planet, the one carrying Warmaster Tarsvin Shraq. The Yuuzhan Vong Devotee warrior had been secreting his large group of warriors on the planet, the Jedi none the wiser, blind to the Yuuzhan Vong.

The demi-god Nefarion had informed him that both Skywalker and Solo were off-planet, the only two Jedi known to be able to feel the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force. With the favor of the gods on their side, Shraq should have control of the Temple before the two Jedi cousins arrived. Then Shraq could have his revenge against the people that had destroyed his own, dividing them into weaklings who feared death and avoided meeting their gods.

hr

Beyond the plain of reality, in the stirrings of the Force, Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi stood side-by-side, helpless against the rise of the Dark Side.

Luke turned to his mentor in both life and death. "The Dark Side has peaked?" He asked, already knowing it for a fact.

"The time of trial is at hand," Obi-Wan affirmed.


	18. I Love You I Know

Chapter 18: I Love You, I Know

Relief coursed through Ben as the false New Republic fleet retreated away from the Naboo system; however, the relief was short-lived as he remembered that they had not been able to hold off Nefarion's fleet the way they had wanted to. Many of the fighters had made passes over Yuuzhan Vong settlements before Ben's or Anakin's squadrons could come through and chase them off. He had a feeling that his vision had not been as avoided as he thought it could be.

Keorra's X-wing came to flank his; Artoo beeped at her astromech droid. "Do we head back, Skywalker?" she asked sharply, still angry about what had happened back at Uncle

Karrde's home base.

He shook his head, knowing he could no longer run from Anakin, from the Temple, and from the Jedi. His destiny was pulling him to them, and he would no longer fight the will of the Force. "Land near the Yuuzhan Vong settlements, I want to see how many I can save before I recall Uncle Talon's people."

He felt her soften under these words. "Good plan, Skywalker. But what after that?" she asked, knowing that he had not wanted to be discovered by his family. That his fear of what she called Kalla would destroy them all.

The vision of his older self reaching out to him, as if to grasp his very spirit, flashed before his eyes, the Yuuzhan Vong surrounding the Temple, Yuuzhan Vong he would control, roaring battle cries, worshipping him as though he were a god. Un'kalla, he was now the sheathed sword of destruction, but what if he became like the Emperor, let the power that could do so much good destroy the galaxy? The Emperor had gone Kalla, unleashing the sword, and Ben's visions showed him that he would do the same.

iNo, I will stop myself before that future can ever come to pass/i, Ben swore to himself. The sword will stay sheathed, even if it means melting it down.

"Ben?" It was Anakin's voice this time.

Ben scratched his chin where the strap to his flight helmet cut into the skin. "Anakin, I'll meet you down on the surface, I'm sending you the coordinates now."

"Does that mean you're coming home, Ben?" Anakin asked softly, afraid to hear the answer.

A shudder went through Ben. "I don't know, Anakin. I just know that I can't run any longer."

The Force had made that clear to him, had directed him to face his destiny, had pulled him towards it with each unconscious move, until he had found himself in the very place he had tried to avoid. Amongst the people he cared about the most, the people he could destroy if he went Kalla - not if, when.

"Alright, Ben. I'll meet you at your coordinates, but then I want to have a talk with you," Anakin said, his deep voice coming over the earset in his helmet. "You must understand that this fear of yours is ridiculous."

"Is it, Anakin?" Ben asked harshly. "Have you seen what I have? Have you suddenly been gifted with this curse?"

There was a hesitation from his cousin that Ben had planned on. Everyone would tell him that he had nothing to fear, that they could not imagine him becoming what his visions betrayed, but none of them had actually seen what he had. Would they say the same thing if it was them in his place?

"We'll discuss this when we land," Anakin answered, ignoring the antagonism in Ben's tone.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him, Skywalker," Keorra came back after Anakin had signed off. "He just cares for you."

Ben sighed, feeling guilt well up inside of him. He knew Anakin was trying to do his best for Ben, felt obligated since his father's dying request had been for Anakin to train Ben, Anakin having always been especially close to Luke Skywalker. "I know," he whispered.

Without another word the two angled their respective ships towards the jewel-like planet of Naboo, a peace exploited by the Sith. Touching down on the surface, Ben was the only one prepared to see what lay before them. They had gone to the settlement that had been hit the worst by Nefarion's fleet, and it was evident in the streets. Ben hopped out of his X-wing, ignoring Artoo's mournful whisper, and walked out onto the pavement, where dozens upon dozens of Yuuzhan Vong lay dead at his feet. He closed his eyes against the sight, as he had in his vision, not wanting to see the rusted blood that pooled under each of them. It made him want to lose the contents of his stomach.

iI could have seen this sooner, he thought abruptly. I stopped the visions, and disaster lay in its wake. Perhaps the Force would have shown it to me in such a way that I could have stopped it, if I had allowed the visions earlier./i Ben had wanted the nightmares to stop so much, the rising darkness tainting what he saw now. In his youth, he had enjoyed the visions, even the dark ones of the past, for they had given him knowledge into the Order, but now he only saw the torture of knowing what you could not stop.

He knelt beside the closest Yuuzhan Vong, pressing a finger to the spot where he could check the Yuuzhan Vong for any sort of thready heart rate. His searching fingers found nothing, and he hopped from one prone Vong to the next, hoping to find one Yuuzhan Vong he could save. Soon Keorra came to stand beside him and grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him from the mayhem.

"You can't help them, Skywalker," she said softly, drawing him back to where Anakin stood by his Naboo fighter. It was as natural as breathing when Keorra's fingers laced with his own.

Ben stilled himself in front of his cousin - he didn't want any emotion to be betrayed that Anakin could read. He did not want to have sympathy, for it was not him that lay dead in the streets of Naboo. "You wanted to talk, Anakin?"

It surprised him when his cousin plowed through Keorra and crushed Ben in a hug. "I'm so glad you're safe," Anakin breathed into his ear.

For a moment Ben was too shocked to do anything. Anakin had never hugged him before, and it had been so long since anyone had given him this sort of physical contact that Ben froze for a moment. Then he reached up his arms and flung them around Anakin, savoring the moment where he could feel loved. But eventually it was Ben who pulled away. There was still much to do, and very little time to do it. The Force was whispering this to him.

"Where're Cherrz and Analsa?" Ben asked, knowing that the two had been with Anakin when they had arrived on Naboo.

A shadow crossed over Anakin's face. "Analsa was hurt in the attack, Ben. I left Cherrz to watch her, but I don't know her condition." There came an enigmatic smile upon Anakin's features. "She was saving the Queen."

"How did Valin die, Anakin?" Ben asked softly. He and the other boy had never been close, but they had come to an understanding between them, and Ben had hoped that it could have developed into a friendship.

Anakin's hesitance made Ben uncomfortable. What was the story behind Valin Horn's death? "We should talk about it another time, Ben."

"No, Anakin, we can talk about it now," Ben was being more demanding then he had ever been before with Anakin, but he needed to know. "Why won't you tell me?"

"He's afraid of what your reaction might be," Keorra said from his left, the tone of her voice alerting him that she was in Soulreader mode.

Anakin's head snapped on Keorra, and Ben could only imagine what was running through the older Jedi's mind. But a decisive look came over the tall Jedi, and he centered his gaze back on Ben. "Valin was killed in one of the strikes against the Yuuzhan Vong. He was out by a Separatist planet, leading the Jedi team away from me and you."

Ben paled at Anakin's gently spoken words; they had been uttered in such a way as to be soothing for Ben, but it did not help to hide the truth. Valin had died because of him, had died to protect him in a roundabout way, and the pain of this struck home in Ben's heart. iHow many more people will die to protect me/i he thought, his parents' specters dancing in his head.

"I see," Ben stammered out. "Corran - is he alright?" Ben asked.

"He has handled it as well as can be expected," Anakin assured him.

iProbably better then I have handled my parents' death/i, Ben thought, seeing the stoic Jedi Master Corran Horn. A man whom he had respected since the day his parents had introduced them. "Good," Ben said shortly. "Let's check on Analsa and Cherrz. We should get back to the Temple as soon as possible." He owed Corran at least that much, to not let his son's death be in vain.

"Now you are so eager to get back?" Anakin questioned, disbelievingly. "Why?"

"I'm going - isn't that enough for you?" Ben shot back, his hands clenching into fists at his side. "People have been hurt and killed so that I could return safely, do you think I would just brush aside their sacrifices? Or do you not know me so well, cousin?"

Anakin was reacting to Ben's own frustration, their anger fueling off of one another. "Ben, I don't think you know yourself well enough."

That hit Ben like a slap to the face, stinging with just as much force. He backed away from Anakin in the shock of sudden realization, knocking into Keorra. "You're right, Anakin, I don't but you have no idea what I do know. If you'll excuse me," was all he said, before making a dash for his father's X-wing.

hr/hr

Anakin watched his cousin as he ran for the X-wing that had once been his father's. He could see that he had struck a nerve in the usually cool Ben Skywalker, and he wondered how Uncle Luke would have handled this situation. But if Uncle Luke had been here, this situation would have been obviated. And only Anakin Solo had ever come back from the dead.

He was just about to head off for his cousin, when a slim hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "Just who do you think you are?" came the much crisper feminine voice he had heard on the comm unit over Naboo space. He was finally able to put a face to the voice. She wasn't a tall girl, probably a handspan shorter than Ben himself, her hair so light that it was nearly white, standing out against the rich color of her skin and the vibrancy of her violet eye. No, she wasn't physically commanding, but her presence made you stand on tiptoe. "Do you have any idea how difficult it was for him to come here? Feeling as though he was putting you in danger? Can't you see it in his eyes?"

"Keorra Cereaslean, I assume," Anakin addressed her, matching that haughtiness of her tone. "A pleasure to meet you."

"I'm sure," she sneered at him.

"And what is it exactly that I should have seen in my cousin?" he asked pointedly. He felt as though he were being pulled in two directions; towards Ben and towards Analsa. Each vying for dominance inside of him.

Those enigmatic violet eyes bore into him. "Perhaps that he is just a boy, with a power he still doesn't understand."

That shocked Anakin. "You know of Ben's abilities?"

"He trusted me as much," Cereaslean said, tipping her chin upward in certain pride. "Perhaps you should worry about his trust for you, rather than his motives. For I assure you, right now they are pure."

It was the way she had formed the sentence that alarmed him the most. "Right now? You act as though that may change."

Her shoulders hunched, and she looked as though this was the hardest thing in the world for her to say. "Because they might. You don't understand the power your cousin holds, and thus the duty you have to him. He told me that his father asked you to train him. I don't think even Master Skywalker knew the power his son could command one day, or what he was asking of you."

"He told me that balance would be brought through us," Anakin spoke, but as though he were thinking out loud to himself. He fell back against his fighter. "I can't do this."

"I believe you can," said Cereaslean, sincerity ringing from every word.

Angrily, Anakin shook his head. "Who are you?"

A smile to match the puzzle of her eyes flashed over Cereaslean's elfin face. "Let's just say that I can see into your soul, Anakin Solo."

"And what do you see? A seventeen-year-old trapped in the body of a thirty-year-old?" he asked softly.

"Sometimes age is not numbered by years, but by experience," Cereaslean countered. "You have been through an ordeal few people, if any, can understand. Just don't let that ordeal ruin you."

"So how do I help Ben?" Anakin asked, somehow knowing that this girl could guide him through to his cousin.

"I've got an idea, but it will take a while to set up," Cereaslean said. "I'll let you know when I've got it."

Again, Anakin caught a certain tone to her voice. "Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to help us very much?"

"Be optimistic," she chided him, before spinning on her heel and climbing the ladder to her X-wing.

Anakin had thought that he would never meet a person more of a frustrating mystery than Analsa Vinn, but he was sure that Analsa would be meeting her match with this one. The girl had more confidence than anyone he had ever met at her age, and it was obvious that Ben had stolen a piece of her heart, even though they were both ignoring the fact. Shaking his head at the new complications that sprung into his life with every breath, Anakin decided to follow Keorra Cereaslean's lead and mounted the Naboo starfighter the Queen had prepared for him.

iWhen does my life start to get less complicated/i

hr/hr

Consciousness was like leaping into hyperspace for Sarlana - one moment she was lost in the bliss of darkness, the next there were shooting stabs of light tormenting her sandblasted eyes and mind. She jerked, legs and arms flinging around in the confines of the medical sheets, a gasp tearing from her mouth. She was awake, but she wasn't totally aware, her arms bound by analysis wires monitoring her heart and air-oxygen levels. But Sarlana was running on the nearly animalistic tendencies that had been drilled into her by her Sith Master.

She rolled off the medical bunk, hunching down on her flanks to gather information with those instincts that had been coerced from her by savagery. Brown eyes the color of hot chocolate hopped among corners of a room, never staying long on one object before snapping to take in another. Swirls of light and Dark Side Force clashed around her, vying for dominance inside the injured Sith apprentice.

Pulling off the monitoring wires, alarms blared loudly on the machines built into the bulkhead, and Sarlana leaped half a meter in the air before kicking a leg out to demolish the annoyance. A trace of blood trickled down her bare heel, leaving patches of blood as she inched her way through the room. Awareness was beginning to come, but only served to fuel her fright, for she still had no idea where she was.

For the moment she forgot that she was under the guise of Analsa Vinn, her real name, the person she had started life as, and not Lady Sarlana, the Sith apprentice to Lord Nefarion. So when the medical aide came running into the room to check on his patient, Sarlana reacted without thought, leaping at the hapless Gungan.

They both went down in a pile of rubbery limbs, and Analsa fought to knock the Gungan senseless. Sarlana's breath came out in haggard gasps as she leaned over the blubbering Gungan, who was fighting desperately to knock off his mad patient. She grabbed either side of his head, ready to pound it into the floor, when a voice stopped her short.

"Analsa!" With the simplicity of her alias spoken by Anakin Solo, Sarlana's memory finally snapped into place, her alias automatically covering the first layer of consciousness.

Slowly, she pulled her hands from the side of the Gungan's amphibious head, and looked at them as though surprised that they belonged to her. In the moment she had seen him, she had feared him, had continued to fear him, despite the fact that his whole defense had been to flop around on the floor she had him keenly pressed against. Sith reacted when it was in the greatest benefit to them, but she had reacted without thought, feral almost. She put her hands to her own head, as if to press the broken menagerie of thoughts into place. What had Nefarion done to her?

She flung herself off of the Gungan, and scooted backwards until her back hit the bunk she had just vacated, rolling her legs under her and hugging them so that her knees rested under her chest. She felt now that she claimed two personalities; that Analsa Vinn had not only become a persona to don during her infiltration of the Temple, but a reality inside of her. There wasn't enough room for two in her mind, and Analsa was fighting for dominance. Tears glimmered in her eyes, trickling down her cheeks to fall on the knee-pulled fabric of her medical smock, sopping into the fabric to touch the heated skin of her knee.

Anakin helped the distraught Gungan to his feet, and spoke in such a soft tone that Sarlana couldn't have heard him even if she had tried. After a while the Gungan nodded and scampered off, not bothering to hide the fact that he wanted to be as far away from Sarlana as possible. Purposefully, Anakin came towards her slowly, gauging the reaction of her face before advancing any further. Then - sliding next to her on the floor, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her close until her head was pillowed on his shoulder.

Momentarily, she stiffened in his arms, alarmed by the tenderness in his embrace. No one had touched her with so much care, no one except Padami. She melted against him, trying to choke down the tears that were falling freely. "I don't know what happened," she stuttered out between the tears, truthful to him in this one instance.

Her feelings were a cyclone within her. The Gungan had been helpless in her hands, but she hadn't tried to kill him. She had been utterly frightened in her confusion, and had attacked with such viciousness that Lord Nefarion would have been pleased, but then she had fallen short of murder. Her control was slipping, and she could only explain it as the result of the confusion that Anakin Solo was causing her. She could not help but want to be the person that he saw, Analsa Vinn: good, kind, with a sharp temper that could cut durasteel.

"I should have been here when you woke, I'm sorry," he whispered, rocking her gently as she continued to cry like the child Padami had held in her arms. "I could feel you stirring in the Force."

"You could?" she asked, stiffening again, this time in fear that she had been discovered.

He chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, I didn't peek," he said with an air of jocularity.

If he only he knew that she had truly been concerned, concerned that he would find the darkness inside of her. Sarlana did not know exactly who she was. She had been born Analsa Vinn, a babe strong in the Force, a babe the growing Sith Lord Nefarion had snatched from her home and family. She had no memory of them; her first memory was of Padami and her Master. Padami's kind smiling face looming over her, the discontented look of her Master as though he was put off that she were still a child and not able to embrace the destiny he had planned for her.

She had become that destiny, his Sith apprentice, doing whatever was necessary to secure her Master's desires. So how was it possible, after twenty-one years of training under the direction of her Master, that she felt torn from the beliefs that had been indoctrinated into her?

Anakin did not disturb her, did not chastise her for this moment of weakness, just allowed her tears to soak his tunic, rocking her back and forth until she calmed. Pulling away from him, she dashed at her eyes, swiping the residual tears from under her eyes. Showing his continual tenderness to her, Anakin brushed her long hair away from her face, smoothing it against the side of her head.

"All better?" he asked her gently.

She nodded silently, feeling the furthest from the statement a person could. Concern was mirrored in his ice-chipped eyes, and she knew that she had let the emotion of uncertainty pass through her shields. It made her wonder,what if she let down everything, bared all to the Jedi sitting next to her: the darkness, the burgeoning light, everything. She would shed the Analsa persona, and stand mentally naked before him as the Sith Lady, Sarlana. It was a temptation she found difficult to press back in her mind. For Padami's grandson, wasn't it enough?

She laced her fingers in his. "Anakin, I want to tell you something," she started.

He studied their entwined hands for a moment, before bringing those ice-chipped eyes to meet her chocolate-brown. "Yes, Analsa," he breathed.

Dropping the facade would be a relief, but it also brought its share of fear. Sith and Jedi were mortal enemies, each side fanatical about bringing down the other, if in varying ways. He would not accept her as she was, he would want to change her to their light-minded ways. She would have to become the persona to love him.

Shaking her head, she fell silent. A Sith was not supposed to feel love, let alone for a Jedi. Desire - yes, sensation - of course, but love was a weakness to be exploited. Vader had shown that when the love for his son had brought him back to the light, destroying everything he had gained under the tutorship of the Emperor. "I don't know how to begin."

"It's alright, I understand. You were scared, you acted on instinct. But we'll have to work on that. You can't attack your aides every time you wake up in the infirmary," he said, sincerity on a teasing note.

"No, not that," she said, then caught the look on his face. "Not just that," she amended, knowing it would go against her persona to leave out the injured Gungan.

He gave her an encouraging smile. "Analsa, you can tell me anything."

But she couldn't tell him this. Instead, she leaned over and once more pressed her lips to his, slightly taken off guard when he did not stiffen or pull away, but put his arms around her to crush her to him. The musk of him filled her, and she felt his mind butt up against her shields, the way it had the first time she had kissed him. He wouldn't purposefully break through those barriers, but it seemed every time they got close to one another those natural shields hovering over each of their minds were weakened.

"Hey, Anakin, is everything al...," the voice trailed off, with the sound of clawed toes screeching on the tile. Dorsca Cherrz inserting himself into the situation just at the right time. She had not wanted to break away, despite the fact that Anakin would have peeked into the innermost parts of her mind.

Cherrz's cheeks did not flush red, but he started backing out of the room as he spoke. "Sorry, I didn't know you two were... busy. I just wanted to make sure everything was fine... and it looks like it is. I'll just find Ben." And she had never seen a Yuuzhan Vong move so quickly outside of a battle.

She turned back to find Anakin studying her. "What did you want to tell me?" he asked.

"It was nothing, just nerves I guess," she stammered an excuse. "You found Ben?" she turned the subject off of her and onto his charge.

He nodded. "Well, actually - he found me. He came to help defend Naboo. Without him, I don't think there would have been any Yuuzhan Vong standing."

"The attack!" she exclaimed, that part of her memory finally surfacing. "The Queen, is she alright?"

"Yes, thanks to you," Anakin said, gifting her with a fond smile. "She'll probably skin me alive for letting you out of bed before you're fully healed."

"Healed?" she questioned. "I feel fine."

He frowned thoughtfully. "I did put you in a healing trance. You had severe head trauma, and your spine was nearly snapped. That was some rescue."

"I just reacted," she said honestly.

"Come on." Standing up, he offered her a hand and helped her rise steadily to her feet. Once fully vertical, she felt the effects of her injuries: the room spun in front of her and her knees buckled. Anakin steadied her. "I guess you're right," she admitted, allowing him to lever her into the bed.

He kissed her forehead gently, and Sarlana wondered if he had begun to share her love. "Get some rest, Analsa. We'll be heading back to the Temple in a few days."

She nodded, closing her eyes to show him that she intended to obey him this time. "I love you," she whispered as the door closed behind him.

hr/hr

Anakin pressed his hand against the door plate. "I know," he responded, having heard the whisper she had been trying to tell him, but too afraid to. The truly frightening thing was he loved her, too.


	19. The Force Will Guide Us

Chapter 19: The Force will Guide Us

Han and Harmon followed a safe distance away from Athaliah, the Alderaanian descended Jedi, who was using the Force to keep the still-unconscious Head of Security Feld upright in an imitation of walking. They had already rummaged through Feld's flight suit, and had found the keycard to his quarters. Han knew, from living with Leia, that high-ranking officials in the New Republic had full access to their office records from home offices, and a scenario was beginning to play in Han's mind.

What if this had not been the first time that Gyser Feld had been seduced by a woman seeking information? She might have even given the Head of Security what he had wanted, and then taken whatever information Lord Nefarion had sent her to gather while Feld slept. He couldn't really prove this yet, not without going into Feld's home office and inspecting the station terminal.

He exchanged a look with Harmon as Athaliah slipped the keycard into the door feed and mind-lifted Feld through the door as it spurted open. They would wait a casual amount of time before coming to the door and slipping in the duplicate keycard that Han had made, drawing on the skills of his old smuggling days. Hopefully, whoever had noticed Athaliah go in with Feld, wouldn't be paying attention at the time Harmon and Han made their entrance.

Han hid a smile as he watched Harmon study Athaliah. The two lovers thought they had everyone fooled about their relationship. Han had to admit that the rest of the Jedi team had no clue as to the deep feelings coursing between the two Jedi, the love that for some reason unknowable to Han, they hid as deeply as they felt. The aging smuggler, who was not used to reading people through some energy field that all his family could touch but remained a mystery to him, had gained a gift of his own.

Jedi tended not to relay their feelings through neither emotion nor gesture, yet living around many of them for as long as Han had, it was no surprise that he could read their thoughts and feelings in the most deadpan of expressions. Everyone betrayed themselves in different ways - a good sabacc player found these ways and exploited them, and Han had always thought of himself as more than a good player.

Looking over at the secretly worried Jedi, Han gave him a crooked smile. "It looks like we're on, Junior."

The young Jedi gave him a weird expression, his eyes pinching in the corners to scrutinize the one-time smuggler. "After you, Captain."

Morphing out of the shadows, Han and Harmon approached Feld's quarters. Han slipped the duplicate keycard in, and he and Harmon slipped through the door. Athaliah waited on the other side, her hands planted on her hips, and a mocking smile on her lips. "What were you waiting for? Boonta Eve?"

Han tossed her a sardonic look. "Funny." He jerked his head towards where he guessed Athaliah had dropped Feld off. "He still out?"

"Into another galaxy," she assured him. She motioned the one-time smuggler and the young Jedi to follow her, and led them deeper into the quarters, down a hall, and to the right. The hall brought them into a small office. "The computer terminal is already open, but I can't access the mainframe."

Inwardly Han groaned, as the three of them hunched over the computer terminal. He suddenly wished that Anakin didn't have Threepio or that Ben had left Artoo behind, someone who could jack in past the NRI security codes embedded in the system. Nor could he hotwire the terminal to do what he wished; he just hoped that a little of that Solo luck would kick in and he could fumble his way through the terminal. But that posed a problem: if he could not get past the security shield, how could anyone who hadn't the prior information?

"This is not good," he murmured, slumping into the terminal's conforming chair and sticking his fingers into his hair in frustration.

Harmon and Athaliah rested their elbows on the edge of the chair, leaning over Han. "What's that, Captain?" Harmon asked.

"This whole ruse was to prove that someone could get in under the same pretenses that Athaliah did and access the fleet's transponder codes, even download them to a datapad. That theory pretty much gets devoured in the afterburners, now that we've seen the system security mainframe," Han said.

The room went silent for a long moment, the two Jedi and Han each lost in their own thoughts, each knowing that Feld was not going to stay unconscious forever and the longer they stayed here in the open they were in the open. And Han was pretty sure that Feld would not take kindly to learning that he, the Head of Security in the NRI, had been under the scrutiny of the Jedi, especially when Han and his Jedi team had no proof as to the man's guilt, or even why they had suspected Feld in the first place. The only defense Han would have was that Feld had acted as any other bureaucrat might have, full of procedure and inefficiency.

"Captain, what if Feld knew he had screwed up," Harmon mused. "Knew that he had been duped, and wanted to cover it up? He would make sure he had the security blocks on his computer on at all times..."

"Would have taken the antidote to the hypospray in advance," came Feld's voice behind them. As one unit, Han and the two Jedi spun around to face Feld. The elderly man looked drugged and haggard, but he was definitely awake. "Oh, and I have called my security force, they should be here any minute to arrest you for breaking and entering the personal quarters of the Head of Security."

Han leaned back in the conforming chair, affecting a pose of nonchalance. "So it was you who let the transponder codes be compromised."

A sinister smile twisted the large face of the Head of Security, crooked teeth gleaming in the light of illumination banks overhead. "Come now, Captain Solo, we both know the answer to that question."

Very clever, Han thought. Feld suspected that they might have a wire on one of them, in case he uttered anything incriminating, modifying his answers to ambiguous sentences that would not have given them anything to work with- if Han had thought of wiring them with a comlink set to record.

"You understand that Jedi are not easily taken?" Harmon asked from Han's right. "We are agents of the New Republic, I think they will see that we do not act prematurely."

Oh, to be that naive, Han thought sarcastically. Harmon had that same high idealism that Luke had carried with him up until the time of his death - that eventually things all straightened themselves out, that truth, light and justice would eventually win. The thing was, Han had been infected with the same naivety.

Feld laughed mockingly, apparently he had a very different view of the way the galaxy worked. "I think you grossly underestimate the severity of your position here, Jedi Amodt. Although the Jedi may be more accepted in the galaxy than they were a decade ago, among the Senate you are highly suspicious." A busy grey eyebrow cocked on the otherwise hairless forehead. "How easy it would be for me to explain that I have found the traitors to the New Republic, and sadly, it is those who have pledged their lives to defending the galaxy." The man's face drooped into an exaggeration of regret. "A pity, really, that you'll have to spend the rest of your young lives in prison."

Han felt the two Jedi leaning over him stiffen. "Relax, kids," he uttered to them. "It's not over yet."

The pounding of booted feet marked Han's words but the sound had come to betray him. "I'm afraid it is, Captain Solo. That should be the security force to take you to your prison cell."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

/hr

The door shut quietly behind Jag as he went to join Leia's daughter at the ship. Slowly she spun on her heel to face her two adventurous grandchildren. The two of them looked up at her with wide eyes: Aunecah on a chair where she waited for her legs to be bound, and Tadeo standing next to her shifting from foot to foot in nervous empathy. The two of them together reminded her so much of her own children at their age, when they had gone off on their own little adventures, getting themselves into large amounts of trouble.

She planted hands on her hips and narrowed her brown-eyed gaze onto them, making them suffer the worry of possible punishment for their disobedience. Of course, Leia wasn't really planning anything, the fright the children had received in the forest was enough, but she hoped this little suspense would keep them from trying anything so foolish again.

On the way back to the Temple, Auni had explained that she had wanted to learn how to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force like Uncle Anakin and Benny, and that she had convinced Tad to come along with her. It had been an incredibly dangerous stunt, even without the threat of the spy looming over them, and Leia's breath caught in her chest every time she pondered the fact that her grandchildren might have been kidnapped by the Temple's intruder.

"Well, I hope you two have learned your lesson?" she said, feeling that she had let them sweat it out long enough. "Now, let's look at your legs and get them taken care of."

Dropping to a crouch, Leia grasped her granddaughter's stick-like ankle in her gentle fingers, and with just as much tenderness she pushed Auni's pant leg. It was difficult, for parts of the cloth had been glued to her flesh by the blood, and Leia had to peel the clothing off slowly to keep from opening more of the scabs than necessary. Tears traced down Auni's rounded cheeks, her jaw muscles clenching as she tried not to cry out in pain. Tad held his sister's hand faithfully, his tiny fingers being crushed in Auni's grip as the girl unconsciously strengthened it as the pain increased.

At last, both the pant legs were off, and the cuts in varying depths were revealed. Leia suppressed a wince of her own as she looked at the fleshy mess Auni had made of her calves. The skin had been sliced and stripped, blood was caked on the skin, but a lot of the cuts were still oozing trickles of blood.

"Oh, Auni," Leia moaned. "How did you run like this?"

The little girls face was squinched up in pain, and it was with an effort of will that she cracked her eyes open to scrutinize her grandmother. "I just did what Uncle Luke taught us," she answered through pain-clenched teeth.

"I help," Tad said, untangling his fingers from his sister's vice-like grip and coming around the chair to gently trace the cuts on his sister's legs. As he went, the puckered skin began to form around itself, not fully closing but easing Auni's pain enough that the girl's face relaxed as the pain diminished.

"Tad," Leia gasped. "Who taught you how to do that?"

Her grandson tossed her a toothy grin. "Benny did."

Leia had thought she was past feeling surprised about the amazing feats that her children and her children's children could do. And Ben Skywalker brought out the best in each of them - he was like a conduit to their power, bringing them to ultimate fruition. Leia had seen it before, with Luke and Mara, Jaina and Jacen, and even Anakin in the short time of his return. Ben made the Force more reachable, somehow more understandable, yet the boy feared his own power.

She could hardly fault her nephew, however; his destiny had thrown him a lot no child should be called to bear, and as Leia looked at her grandson, she wondered if Tad was not bound to follow in Ben's footsteps.

Softly she caressed the baby-fat cheek. "Good job, Tad," she praised him, then pulled his hand away from his mostly-healed sister's legs. So grand a use of the Force would only tire him out more than he already was. "Now, let's get you two to bed."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

/hr

They did not make a sound, nor did they disturb the ground under their feet. These were Devotee Yuuzhan Vong warriors, warriors that had been trained to near perfection, warriors that had given the Jedi hardship at the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong war almost two decades ago. On Devotee held worlds they had been hiding in the shadows, gathering skill and might, a force that could not be stopped if and when their Separatist brethren joined them.

There were two hundred such Yuuzhan Vong warriors under the command of Tarsvin Shraq, the Devotee Warmaster, under the charge of the Sith Lord Nefarion. Shraq's task force had come to the planet disguised under the abomination of a cloaking device, and now approached the Jedi Temple with the natural shielding the Yuuzhan Vong had for most Jedi in the Force. The only two that could possibly feel their approach were both off planet, running away from a ghost. If Solo and Skywalker only knew how perfectly they were playing into the hands of the demigod...

Shraq's task Force was connected by a new form of the tizo worm, a cross between the worm and a villip, a communication device that allowed them to be in contact at all times. Just one of the main items of biotechnology that the Devotee Yuuzhan Vong had been breeding inside the confines of their held worlds. The amphistaff clutched in his clawed hand was one of those improved inventions.

The Jedi had worked to make sure their dreaded mechanical weapons could cleave through the Yuuzhan Vong amphistaff, the Separatists even aiding them in their attempt - but now the Devotees had found a solution. The Jedi would be helpless against their might.

From the Lady Sarlana they had learned just how many real Jedi there were in the Temple at any time. It had surprised Shraq how few trained Jedi were kept inside the Temple, less than Shraq's task force, the majority of them teachers for the many children still learning their infidel ways. Still, Tarsvin Shraq had a respect for the Jedi, had been a young warrior in the Yuuzhan Vong war to claim the galaxy as theirs.

A handful of his warriors had encircled a ship lying waiting in the middle, and was waiting for his signal to move in, just as were the rest of his task force as they perched just outside of the Jedi Temple. Shraq took the moment to revel in the power the gods had bestowed him with, almost the ecstasy he received inside the embrace of pain. He sucked it in as if drinking sustenance from the air. It was a palpable essence, nearly shimmering around him as his team crouched like expectant birds of prey, waiting for their pounce.

He sensed their anticipation and found it mirrored in his own soul. The path to taking the endowment of the gods was at hand. With his clawed finger, he pressed the tizo worm in his ear, activating the sonic resonance that would rebound to the other Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology and interpret it in the ears of his team. "Advance."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

/hr

Jaina back-pedaled away from the console, her eyes refusing to believe what she had just seen. The truth that they had been so blind to, and yet had been staring them in the face since Bellalt. How deftly Lord Nefarion and his Sith Apprentice had manipulated them, manipulated Anakin. She was well aware of the feelings that her brother had begun to exhibit towards Analsa Vinn, knew that the girl was with him right now, pretending to assist him in his search for Ben.

The Solo daughter turned back to the replay holo of Lord Nefarion, his robes shrouding him in the haziness of the projection, making him appear more the wraith than Ben had described him. This man had killed her uncle, wanted to corrupt her cousin, and toyed with the emotions of her brother. It was difficult not to feel the rise of anger and hatred that came up to squeeze at her throat.

Lord Nefarion and Lady Sarlana. That's what he had called her, 'Lady Sarlana'. Jaina thought of the girl who had stormed off in a huff after Anakin's oblivious rejection of her more than obvious affection. Had Jaina misread her so terribly?

Well, no longer. Analsa Vinn was about to be exposed. Shakily, Jaina returned to the console she had figuratively run away from moments ago, her delicately boned fingers easily manipulating the standard communications operating system that had been inset into the strange Sith, ship. The Falcon's frequency code floated off of her fingers with no effort at all, she did not even have to think of the numbers. They were a part of her, as basic as instinct.

Anakin, spy identity uncovered, she sent, once it was apparent that she could not hail her brother. Don't trust... Jaina trailed off as she heard the sound of Yuuzhan Vong claws on the metallic deck of the Sith ship.

There were Yuuzhan Vong on Coruscant, of course, but seldom did they venture so close to the Jedi Temple without permission, and never did they enter property that was not their own. A coldness settled in her stomach, one that was only intensified when she realized how close the Yuuzhan Vong warrior was.

"Turn around, infidel," she heard a mewling voice behind her, and her hand immediately hovered to her lightsaber at her belt. She was about to move into action when the hiss of an amphistaff slithered into her ear. "I would not be so foolish, infidel."

Slowly, she took her hand away, raising it along with the other to parallel her head. "What clan holds your honor?" she asked, trying to make sense of this sudden attack. Infidel? How long had it been since she had been addressed as such?

With a swift hand, the Yuuzhan Vong warrior disarmed her. "I am outside your jurisdiction, Jeedai. Soon we will all be."

"You are a Devotee?" she asked, making a conscious effort not to squirm as the amphistaff came closer and closer to her ear. Ben could manipulate the things, but she could not, and she silently cursed the fact that she had not learned them before now.

"I am loyal to Yun Yuuzhan," the warrior intoned proudly. "Now, if you fear the gift of the Gods then you had better follow me."

Jaina nodded, and allowed the press of the amphistaff herd her out of the ship. As soon as she came out into the open of the forest she shivered, and it had nothing to do with the chill in the air. Encircling the Sith ship were at least a couple dozen Yuuzhan Vong, all with amphistaffs squirming in their razor-clawed hands. She had hoped to get into a wide open area and take the Yuuzhan Vong Devotee warrior, figuring that he had come alone to destroy the infidel Jeedai, but this was more than she expected, more than she feared the Jedi could handle at the moment.

This was all planned, she realized as they began to move from the ship and encompass her in what might have been a guard position for royalty but was more a cage to keep her from escape. Analsa told Nefarion that the only two Jedi who could sense the Vong were out of the Temple. An ample opportunity for the Devotees to besiege us. But how did they get here?

Jaina's mind was working on overdrive as her legs worked on instinct, taking her towards the Jedi Temple. It was obvious that Nefarion was working with the Devotees to bring the Separatists back into the good graces of their brethren, it would only make sense that Nefarion would provide the cloaking ships that the Devotees would need to land on any planet without detection. How did we not see this coming?

Even without the ability to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force, save for Ben and Anakin, the Jedi should have felt the disturbance in the Force. The trouble was that the disturbance was always there, steadily increasing, until it filled the senses, and it centered on Lord Nefarion. The Jedi had grown lax in their own defense as they worried about saving the Separatist Yuuzhan Vong.

She could think of only one way to warn the Jedi of the oncoming onslaught, and hope that it didn't come too late. Jacen, I think we're in trouble.

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Leia had just gotten the kids settled when she heard a clicking sound in the hall outside of the small Solo apartment. Thinking that it might be Jag and Jaina coming back to check on the children, Leia rushed to open the door, only to find the corridor empty and dark. A bad feeling beginning to blossom in her stomach, Leia stepped into the hallway, her hand reaching to the lightsaber at her belt.

Her senses were on the alert and she managed to catch a flicker of motion before everything went dark.

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Jacen, I think we're in trouble. That was how he would have translated the terrified feeling in the Force that awakened him, as he bolted upright in the bed he shared with his wife. He caught his breath in a rush, reaching out to his sister to gather more information. What he saw through her mind's eye was even worse than he could have imagined. Yuuzhan Vong Devotees were everywhere, marked by the ritualistic scars and tattoos of their religion.

Next to him, Tahiri stirred, the large bulge of her stomach evident under the bed cover. Jacen's eyes fixed on her stomach; the only protection that their child had was Tahiri, and Jacen's vongsense was telling him that their unborn baby girl would need all the protection she could get. Grasping Tahiri's shoulder, Jacen shook her, gently but insistently. Whatever was coming, he had to get Tahiri to a safe place and warn the rest of the Jedi.

"Tahiri, wake up," he hissed at her insistently.

She moaned in her sleep. She was so close to the birthing of their baby - due any day, the Master Healers had said - and she needed her rest - the Healers had admonished her - but they had to get out of here, and fast, from what Jaina was intoning.

Her eyes fluttered open a few heartbeats later and centered on Jacen. "Love, what is it?"

"Yuuzhan Vong," he whispered, and she immediately reacted, sitting up in their bed just as quickly as Jacen had.

They had both suffered under Yuuzhan Vong captivity, their captors trying to remake each of them in the Yuuzhan Vong image. Where they had tried to physically convert Tahiri, Jacen's trial had been more of a mental one, as the hierarchy of Yuuzhan Vong hoped to bring a Jedi warrior to their side. Jacen was well aware that Tahiri still had nightmares of her torture at their hands, and had long ago struggled with the Yuuzhan Vong side of herself. It was her strength during that time that had attracted him to her in the first place.

"We've got to get out of here," he said, grabbing her hand and helping her out of bed. She cringed as her weight shifted to her swollen bare feet. He cupped her face in his hands. "Will you be alright?"

She gave him a cocky grin that only evidenced her weariness to him, and failed to dispel the fatigue in those emerald green eyes. "The Force is my ally," she answered.

Fear still clung to him - fear for her, fear for their child, but he nodded nonetheless. How had Uncle Luke ever lived through Aunt Mara's death? Just the thought of losing Tahiri caused ice to form over Jacen's heart. He could not imagine never waking up next to her again.

She placed her hands over his and gently pulled them from her face, squeezing them. "What's going on?"

He shook his head, knowing that she had caught his fear for her in his eyes and essence. "I'm not sure, but Devotees are surrounding the Temple," he answered her. He shuddered with a sigh. "They may even be in the Temple."

Spasmodically, her grip tightened on his hands, before one of hers came to rest on her pregnant belly. "The baby..." her voice trailed off as her thoughts turned to the worries that neither of them could have pondered.

He locked her gaze into his. "Will never be in the hands of the Devotees. I promise you this, Tahiri. Remember what Ben told you. She'll be safe."

With an effort of will, she nodded. That's when they began to hear the chaos raging in the lower levels of the Temple. Tiny disturbances cut into the Force, lancing it with each death of their fellow Jedi. Holding her in one hand, and his lightsaber in the other, Jacen pulled her towards the door.

"We've got to go now, before they reach our level," he gasped.

Tahiri pulled him back for a moment. "Where will we go?"

Jacen kissed her quickly, reassuringly. "We'll let the Force guide us."


	20. And We're the Bait

Chapter 20: And We're the Bait.

The sound of rushing waterfalls, and the cold mist of a summer's eve on Naboo, caressed Anakin's senses as he stepped out onto the large balcony that he had traced his cousin's Force-essence to. Sure enough, just an outline against the darker shadows, stood the short but compact form of Ben Skywalker. Elbows leaning on the guard railing, Ben was hypnotized by the sound, the rays of the blue moon glittering off of the palace's waterfall. So much so that he did not turn to greet Anakin - perhaps didn't even know he was there, but Anakin doubted it.

Coming closer, Anakin took the slowness of his pace as opportunity to study Ben before disturbing the boy from his thoughts. It now no longer confused Anakin when he thought of Ben as just a boy. Keorra Cereaslean had pinned it right when she said that Anakin had matured not by years but by unique experience. He was no longer that seventeen-year-old boy who had given his life for the secured future of the Jedi and his family, but a man grown in the Force.

Although the galaxy around him remained on the whole foreign, and sometimes even frightening, he now understood why it was that the Force had saved him, had caused him to awaken at this point and time. And in that purpose he had found his stability, and hoped to share it with Ben.

As the blue light of the moon bathed Ben's still-youthful face, Anakin was forced to recall the reason for the harshness in the young Seer's features. The dark circles that rimmed Ben's blue-green eyes, the sharp gauntness in his cheeks, the way the muscles in his jawline clenched and unclenched as though he were continually fighting something unseeable to the rest of them. Keorra had explained to him that Ben had not slept much while on the asteroid world that Karrde had founded his home base on, that when he had it hadn't been long before he awoke screaming or wide-eyed.

Pausing just short of Ben, Anakin took a deep breath of the nectar-filled night air. There was a familiarity to this place, as though it were born inside of his bones, if not inside of his mind, a place that caused the Force to tingle inside of him. A feeling that had more than the obvious teeming life on Naboo to it. No wonder Ben had come here in his search for peace.

"There is an old tale that is told to children here on Naboo. That the Force itself plucked a jewel from the earth of an unknown planet in another galaxy and stuck it in our own, to brighten the skies of the universe," Ben said without preamble, a strained smile touching his fatigue-drawn face. "Before, there was only darkness in the galaxy, and the Force wished to bring in the light to balance it."

Anakin mimicked the smile. "It is a lovely tale."

"A story of hope," Ben said, morbidly defeated.

"Hope is not resigned to children's fairy tales, Ben," Anakin reminded.

Ben's profile was almost ghostly in the pale light. "My parents used to tell me similar stories. Stories of a man who had once been the light itself, and had turned as dark as charcoal, only to be revived in the fires of his son's love."

"History has many such stories," Anakin agreed. "I remember one of a baby, not even out of his mother's womb, who healed her of a vicious disease. Even as he was being attacked by the disease himself."

"While his mother protected him," the Seer nodded. "Except now he has no mother, no father, and no one to save him."

Anakin closed his eyes and shuttered a breath. "I will not believe in your vision."

"Whether you care to believe in it or not, it is true nonetheless," Ben said, finally facing Anakin in his anger. "Avoiding it will not help. I tried that. I ran away, ran away from the future. Do you know what the problem with the future is, Anakin?"

Swallowing, Anakin shook his head. "Tell me."

"We forget the moment. The now. Except, once you focus too tightly on the now, you lose sight of what your actions might bring to the future, and the past - how do we learn from it and not dwell on it?" a mocking laugh colored Ben's voice. "And I see them all. The future, the past, and the present. Slivers of them, but important slivers."

"You are still on the side of good in the now," Anakin said tightly, controlled.

"Do you know who the savior of Naboo was during the Trade Federation blockade so many years ago?" Ben asked, in a sudden reversal that sent Anakin's head spinning. "A boy of nine years, a former slave from Tatooine who held the light of the Force inside of him. He was our grandfather, Anakin. The one whose name you bear. The man of fairy tales."

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Tarsvin Shraq hefted the limp body of Leia Organa Solo into his arms, her head and legs flopping with each step. Behind the door their grandmother had just passed through, Tad and Auni watched the Yuuzhan Vong leave with eyes colored with fright.

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"Our Grandfather fell because of his own designs, Ben, not because of some pre-destiny," Anakin shot back at his cousin angrily. Why was Ben forcing him to come to terms with this possibility? It was a possibility all Jedi held inside of them, even himself. The temptation of the Dark Side. It wasn't foreordained, but a choice each person made, no matter what Ben's visions held.

"I've seen the past, Anakin, and you're right - Anakin Skywalker did not fall because he was destined to. He fell because of power. He was the 'Chosen One', the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy, the Force did not only whisper to him but it shouted. It was because of this fact that my father limited his use of the Force - he didn't want to hear the screaming, but the small intuition. He could have whipped out the Yuuzhan Vong when they entered our galaxy, Jacen could have, you could have, but you each chose the higher path. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"Are you saying you have absolute power?" Anakin asked, pushing the lump in his throat aside.

Ben turned back to the waterfalls, frustration, fatigue, fear, and longing all written on his features. "I don't want to."

Tentatively, Anakin placed a hand on his cousin's shoulder. "Ben, you are the 'Chosen One'."

To his surprise, Ben shook his head, the collar-length locks of the ruddy brown hair ruffling in the evening breeze. "I am the spearhead of the Chosen."

"I don't understand," Anakin admitted. Ben's mind seemed to jump from subject to subject with no matter and no meaning.

"Is the Force really in balance, Anakin, or did my father and our grandfather create an opening for the Jedi to build before the true disruption, the onslaught?" Ben asked pointedly, his eyes now colored in steel. "The Yuuzhan Vong invasion came in a time of supposed balance, the destruction almost as bad, if not worse, than what Palpatine wrought during his reign as Emperor. Now Nefarion rises, a man who is Palpatine reincarnated, and has the aid of the Yuuzhan Vong. This is not merely the fate of the Order, but the fate of the galaxy. Was balance brought fully, or does it need to be finished?"

Anakin sighed, wishing that Ben would stay on one subject at a time, answering one thought pattern before moving on to another one. "Balance is something we constantly fight to achieve."

"And can never attain?" Ben questioned. "I don't believe that. The Jedi had balance for over a thousand generations, and yet after we defeat the Sith, we continue to be thrown into conflict, a few decades between each, but what is a few decades compared to the peace of thousands of years?"

Anakin had to admit these were questions that he had asked himself not so long ago.

"You're saying that these are more than just ripples from Palpatine's initial disturbance?"

"I'm saying this is the same disturbance. Palpatine's death just gave us more time to prepare for what he had brought about. The purges of the Jedi left the galaxy hardly in balance. We had one Jedi facing everything that was thrown at him," Ben elucidated. "Now we have hundreds to fight the rise of the Dark Side. This is the final moment, the moment of decision, Anakin." Ben clenched his hands together so tightly that they went white under his tan. "And I can't be a part of it."

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Jacen and Tahiri ran with everything they had, thud bugs thunking into the tile of the Temple below their feet, some of them nipping at their heels so that they left blood as they ran. Somehow, Tahiri was managing to keep up with him, but pain was etched into the soft contours of her face, causing her flesh to harden. They were running out of time, Jacen could feel that, and they were running out of places to run to. It was only a matter of time before they were caught.

He understood that they wanted him and Tahiri alive. The Solo family were to be sacrifices unto the Gods, had been meant for such an offering since nearly the beginning of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. However, if they kept up their retreat, these warriors may decide not to put off the sacrifice any longer, and deal with them now. And Tahiri was tiring.

"We can run no longer," he breathed to her, as he brought her hand back, slowing his hurried pace. Jacen sliced his green lightsaber downward, burning a number of thud bugs on the intensity of the saber.

"I won't be under their captivity, Jacen," Tahiri hissed at him. "I can't be."

"They want us alive for the time being. They'll be busy enough trying to gather the rest of us, we have time yet," Jacen explained, as he continued to block the oncoming assault. "Trust me, love."

He saw the internal battle rage inside of her, the need to protect their unborn child, the fear of her previous encounters with the Yuuzhan Vong. Tahiri had come to accept the Separatists, but the Devotees she had no feeling for. He could not fault her, as his thumb came up to trace the three balled-tissued scars on her forehead.

"I trust you, my husband," she assured him.

Jacen squeezed her hand, and batted thud bugs away from them before calling out to their pursuers. "We surrender."

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"You must be a part of it," came the voice of Keorra Cereaslean, intruding as planned into the conversation between Ben and Anakin, her violet eyes shining, even more enigmatic in the pale blue light of Naboo's moon. "You must make sure that the sword of destruction remains sheathed."

Ben rushed the girl, gripping his hands around her shoulder, locking his gaze on hers. "Look into my soul," he pleaded. "See into me, Upoi Soulreader. Will I go Kalla?"

Keorra did not wince under the iron grasp of Ben, but gazed into his eyes, not searchingly, because her own gaze became cloudy, but Anakin felt as though something important was happening. Suddenly, she went limp in his arms. "I cannot see it," she whispered. "But there is also hope in doubt."

At Ben's distraught look, Anakin felt he had to step in. Keorra was being brave, but Ben was on the edge of desperation, there was no telling what he would do. Gently, but firmly, he pulled Ben's arms away from Keorra. There was so much sorrow in her gaze, a sorrow that matched that of the Jedi's greatest Seer. Then abruptly, as if the light inside of her had come on, Keorra's eyes brightened.

Without a word, she ran across the length of the veranda, and hopped onto the railing that Ben and Anakin had just been leaning over. Balanced in only the way a Upoi Warrior could be, Keorra glanced over the side of the building, and by the way her eyes widened the drop was incredible. She turned to face the two stunned Jedi.

"Do you wish to know who you are, Skywalker?" she asked.

Next to Anakin, Ben tensed, ready for action, but unsure what was going on. He was not the only one. When planning this little confrontation, Keorra had never told him anything close to this. If she were to slip, she would die.

"Keorra, step down. This isn't funny," Ben snapped, and Anakin felt the concern his cousin had for her.

She smiled at him. "Then follow me," and with that, she flipped off the edge of the railing, plunging down into the darkness of the night.

"No!" Ben cried, calling upon the Force and leaping from their standing point and over the ledge.

"Ben!"

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Ben ejected his grappling hook as he fell, just a moment behind Keorra, and using the Force to push his descent further. He caught her nimbly, and held her close to him as they plunged together into the darkness, when abruptly the hook caught onto the veranda railing overhead, and they jerked with the effort of stopped motion.

"Are you insane?" he cursed her as they hung suspended over the waterfall runoff.

There was that mysterious smile on her face, the same one that she had given him before she had leapt off the edge. "If you do go Kalla, and you fall away into the abyss," she said and twanged the tight cord with her fingers. "Tether yourself, and there will always be someone ready to reel you in." Her finger pointed up to where the grappling hook held them balanced, Anakin's nervous face bathed in the light of the moon. Then she placed a hand to his cheek, cupping it. "And there will always be one who will go over with you."

"I'm afraid," he told her, feeling safe admitting this to her. "I'm afraid of the dark." He knew he sounded as though he were a little child, wanting to stay in his parents' bed, inside their protection, but he knew she would understand. She would see into his soul, had already.

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side," she reminded him, quoting the adages her parents had taught her.

He saw her pain in them. "And a caution," he countered. "We fear what could hurt us. Just as you fear your parents. They aren't really dead, are they."

"No, they aren't," she answered truthfully. "But they might as well be, for I am dead to them."

Ben wanted to ask her more, ask her who they were and why they had abandoned their daughter so willingly, but knew that would only compound her pain. "We each try too hard to please our parents. I remember, as a child, my father and I got along quite well, but as I grew older I felt that to make him proud I had to make him think. I started acting up, started questioning him, trying to define myself against him, while at the same time trying to be him. It caused so much needless discord between us." Ben frowned as tears began to fill in his eyes. "I never got the chance to tell him how sorry I was for that."

"He knew, Ben, he knew," Keorra assured him. "I can see him reflected in your soul, and he was so proud of you."

Which was more than Keorra had ever got from her parents, Ben thought. His father had worked to incoporateJedi and non-Jedi into his Order, to show those strong in the Force that they could learn from those who were not, just as he had learned from his friend and brother, Han Solo. Luke had also wanted it as a sign of healing between the galaxy and the Jedi who had sworn their lives to protect them. Somehow, Keorra had gotten lost in the mix.

Suddenly they jerked again, as Anakin began to bring them up, with the help of some of the Queen's guards. "You know, the Queen is going to think you're suicidal now," he joked.

"I prefer to call it an interesting personality quirk," she replied back with a cocky grin. "Besides, I had to show you that right now is all that matters, not visions of the future. Like your grandfathers, you still have good to do, and that is all that matters. Whether you fall to the darkness or not."

"Thank you for reminding me of that," he said, solemnly. Her head came forward, her eyes closing as though to kiss him. Little did she know that it would be his first kiss, and as he reached out to the Force to feel the sensation fully, he was catapulted into a vision.

Hovering in mid-air, Ben's every muscle contracted as he was gripped inside the waves of the Force. Images cascaded into his mind, as he struggled to gain control, but then he remembered the fear that he could have stopped the attack against Naboo if he had let his visions come, and he ceased struggling. He found as they came that he had more ability to navigate through the visions when he did not fight against them, when he let the Force draw him to the points that needed to be made.

He only marginally felt Anakin and the palace team lift him up and over the rail, with Keorra still in his grasp. "He's fine," he heard Anakin tell the worried palace workers, when they found Ben almost in an unconscious state. "He is meditating on the Force."

Ben would have laughed at the strange excuse if he could. Who goes over an edge to meditate on the wonders of the Force? But the palace workers were not about to argue with a Jedi Knight, let alone the reborn Anakin Solo. "I must lead him out of his thoughts." Anakin and Keorra laid him gently on the stone veranda as the workers took note that Anakin wanted to be alone with his apprentice.

"What happened?" Anakin asked.

"He's in a vision," came the girl's voice, the sweet contralto he had come to rely so heavily on. A girl he cared all the more for because he had not foreseen her presence.

A hand came to rest on Ben's shoulder, but then it was pulled away just as rapidly as it was placed. "No, don't disturb him," Keorra said, distantly. "He needs to see this through."

And Ben did. He allowed the Force to use him as its tool, the vessel through which its future was possible, and to show the present that was rocking Coruscant. It was a long, arduous vision, seeing what was happening at the Temple and not being able to stop it, but taking hope in the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong Devotees seemed to want to keep most of the Jedi alive. When the images finally cleared, Ben focused his eyes on his cousin and Keorra.

"Ben, what did you see," Anakin asked him.

Ben rolled to his feet. "We've got to get home, Anakin. The tide has already fallen."

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Jaina and Jag were tossed into one of the training rooms inside the Jedi Temple; the group of Yuuzhan Vong who had captured her had stumbled upon Jag during their march towards the Temple. They fell to the training room floor, the barest minimum of light coming from the overhead illumination banks and lighting one another's faces. Jag's eyes roved over her, making sure that the Vong had not hurt her. Then he flung his arms around her, crushing her to him for a long moment.

"I can't feel my mother, Jag," she whispered into his shoulder, trying to hide her fear that Leia was gone.

He pulled her back, locking her at arm's length. "The children?"

"Fine, but frightened. I don't know how they're evading the Vong, but they are," she said, pride and hope vying with fear.

"What about your brother and Tahiri? Are they safe?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure. I can't feel them when they think like Yuuzhan Vong. They disappear." She fell back into his arms. "If only we had seen this coming."

He held her tighter, as if the strength of his arms could last them through this trial. "Ben and Anakin will come," he said, to assure her that all was not lost.

Jaina only wished that it were true. This was the darkness that Ben had ran from, the darkness he feared would change him from the boy he was. She did not want her cousin, who in some ways was like a son to her, to come near this Temple until this crisis passed. And what could Anakin do when he had the Sith apprentice, Lady Sarlana, with him? She had failed to get the warning transmission off to her youngest brother, and Anakin was now doomed to manipulation under the Sith witch.

The door shifted open and two Yuuzhan Vong Devotee warriors came in, carrying Leia's limp form in their arms. Jaina leaped to her feet as soon as she saw her prone mother. "Mom!"

Amphistaffs appeared out of nowhere and pointed at the soft flesh of her neck. "Don't move, infidel."

"What have you done to her?" she demanded. Unafraid at this moment, but seething with anger.

"She is merely knocked out. You will all be safe until the Jeedai infidel Skywalker comes, then you will be prepared for the sacrifice," one of the Vong Devotees told her as he unceremoniously spilled Leia to the floor.

Leia's head cracked against the tiled floor as she fell, and it took every ounce of Jaina's control not to attack the Devotee warrior. As soon as the Devotee warriors left, Jaina crawled to her mother on hands and knees. "Mom?"

But whatever the Vong had done to her, it had worked well, and Leia's only response was a moan as she writhed on the floor of the training room. Jaina looked to her husband. "She needs a healer."

"They'll hardly offer us one. You don't heal someone you are only keeping alive as a sacrifice," Jag retorted, in that maddeningly cool tone of his. Why was it during these times of stress that her husband seemed more Jedi than she did?

She nodded. "Most likely not." She sighed, lifting her mother's head so that it might be pillowed on her lap, instead of on the harsh hard floor. "I wonder where the children are?"

"You can still sense them, can't you?" Jag asked, now portraying the worry she had already known was there.

Reaching out to the Force, she traced tendrils through the Temple until she found her children, frightened but alive and conscious. "They are still alright. They're managing on their own."

They fell into companionable silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Jaina worried that they would not bother keeping the children for the sacrifice if they were found, and hoped that they could be their usual sneaking selves and steal away from the Temple undetected. But then where would they go? The forests outside could be just as dangerous as the Temple full of Yuuzhan Vong Devotees.

It was only a few moments later when Tahiri and Jacen were also brought, Jaina moving quickly to keep Tahiri and her swollen belly from crashing to the floor. The Devotee warriors did not speak, but just exited. Jaina hugged her sister-in-law to her as Tahiri trembled in her grasp. "Are you alright? You're shaking!"

Jacen came over and took his wife from his sister's grasp, sending waves of Force energy to Tahiri and their unborn child. "After I got your message, we tried to escape, but they had already come into the first levels of the Temple. We went up, but there was no other place to go. We ran across some of the Jedi that weren't fortunate enough to survive the invasion. Some of them were young children." Jacen suddenly looked around and Jaina knew he was searching for her children. "Tad and Auni?"

"Hiding," Jaina said, miraculously her voice kept even and unshaken. The Devotees had resorted to murdering children. She didn't know why this surprised her so, it had been no different when they had first invaded, but somehow the mellow quality of the Separatists had softened her perception of all Yuuzhan Vong. "I'm not sure where. Mom was with them, settling them to bed. Jacen, they found the ship of our spy. Auni wanted to learn how to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force, and convinced Tad to go with her. The spy is Analsa."

"Analsa," Tahiri spoke up from her husband's side. "Anakin's Analsa?"

"Yes, she's Nefarion's apprentice. He's been directing the show through her the whole time," Jaina spat out. "The Sith have been one step ahead of us from the beginning. It was a miracle of the Force that they didn't get Ben back on Bellalt."

"But now we're the bait," Jag broke into the conversation. "Nefarion knows that Ben wouldn't come back to resume his training unless we were at stake. Unless his family were in danger."

"Which means that Analsa will be revealing her true identity soon," Tahiri added. "I just hope Anakin will be prepared for it."


	21. That's Why I Have to Go

Chapter 21: That's Why I Have To Go

"I declare war!" Representative Zorel cried out as he stood on the parapet of the meeting chambers' veranda. Below him, thousands upon thousands of Separatist Yuuzhan Vong cheered at the words of their Representative, their traitor. Unknowingly, they cheered for a man with his own desires in mind, and who cared little for the destruction he was sure to wreak on his people. All they saw was the New Republic chipping away at them one planet at a time, and the Jedi unable to do anything about it, maybe even putting on a show of pretense to assure the Separatists that the Republic was with them even as they destroyed them.

"We have given them ample time to bring proof of their innocence, and what have they given us? Excuses and petitions for more time," Zorel continued, raising his hands up in a furtive gesture. "The Republic will not stop until each and every one of us is destroyed. Separatist worlds such as Bellalt, Yivos, and Ithor have been struck, and struck hard. We must do something now before all of our people are destroyed."

A cacophony rose through the chamber, thundering in sound and shook the parapet he stood upon. The rumble filled Zorel with a dark pleasure, one that came close to the ecstasy of pain. His people would do anything he said; they trusted him without question. Now all he had to do was point, and they would go in the direction he wished of them.

"There is only one thing we can do now, my brothers, my people, my friends." He paused, sighing heavily, as though a weight of great pain came to rest upon his back. He felt the crowd take in a breath, holding it as they waited for the answer to their salvation. "We must align ourselves with our lost brethren. We must join the Devotees and join the old ways."

With this, Zorel withdrew an Elom spike and sliced vertically and horizontally across his face, blood trickling down his face to pool at his sharpened chin. "Yun Yuuztar!" the former representative cried, rocketing his hand clutching the Elom spike into the air.

"Yun Yuuztar," the crowd said, repeating his gesture.

Dorsca Cherrz sat cross-legged on the floor inside his quarters in the palace of Naboo. In these moments of respite he liked to take the time to review everything he had learned under the tutelage of Anakin Solo and Ben Skywalker. The Force was still an elusive quality to him - something he could feel, but not quite yet control. He envied Ben and Anakin, who could call upon it at a whim, but knew he himself had drawn on it subconsciously even before he had known that it had truly existed.

His people. The separatist Yuuzhan Vong had declared war against the Republic, a government Cherrz had sworn his life to uphold. His people were dying; they knew no other way to retaliate than the old ways. He knew that many of the Separatists had left for places like Linnal and other Devotee-held worlds to join themselves to their lost brethren.

Cherrz felt pulled in two directions. From Ben's dreams, the Temple was in danger, but he felt compelled to go to his people and talk them out of this war they had declared. A war machinated by the Sith Lord Nefarion. Yet he wondered what he could do on either side. He was not a full Jedi Knight, hardly even a novice. He wouldn't be much use to the Jedi. Nor was he any longer Devotee or Separatist, but something different, something larger.

To be a Jedi meant you held a little piece of every being in the galaxy with you. You were their protector, and their advocate. For the first time, Cherrz realized what it cost to be a Jedi, and wondered why he hadn't seen it before. He saw it in Anakin. After fifteen years of absence from the galaxy, the young Jedi had not shirked his duty but had pressed forward, even when the galaxy around him had become strange and frightening. He saw it in Ben. A boy, who although he was confused and frightened by the destiny he foresaw, continued to aid those in need without a thought for himself.

At this juncture of his life, which fork did he take? Did he stay with those who had been his teachers, and help them rescue the Jedi, or did he go to his people in the hopes of averting a disaster?

"We are at a crossroads, Dorsca Cherrz," Ben Skywalker muttered as he stepped into the room. He was dressed in the cream-colored, loose-fitting tunic and leggings that Cherrz had first seen him in so many weeks ago. "We are very much the same, you and I. Brothers in the Force, if in no other way." Grey shot through the green-blue hue of his eyes. "I always wanted a sibling."

"It honors me that you think of me as such," Cherrz said, spinning to face Ben head on. "Perhaps my brother can help me to know what the Force would have of me."

An enigmatic smile came over the youth's features. "Such a hard thing to discern, I know. The Force brought us together, but for what purpose?" Silence followed Ben's question as the young Jedi ambled forward and dropped to the ground in front of the Yuuzhan Vong Jedi. "I was wrong to have left you and Anakin, Dorsca Cherrz, I hope you can forgive me."

Uncomfortable with the apology, Cherrz evaded Ben's gaze before answering, "You had your reasons."

"They were selfish reasons," Skywalker insisted.

"You thought you were doing what was best," Cherrz reminded him.

Ben ran a hand through his long ruddy brown hair. "I thought if I stayed I would bring the rest of you down with me. But instead of accepting your help, I ran away from it. I acted childishly, and I'm sorry that your training had to suffer for it."

"You acted as well as any one of us would have. Your father just died, Ben Skywalker. You cannot Force-heal that sort of wound," Cherrz tried to comfort him. Both Ben and Anakin had saved his life, and here Skywalker was apologizing for his behavior. "Master Horn knew I could learn much from you and your cousin."

Ben swallowed suddenly and Cherrz was reminded that Master Horn's son, Valin, had been killed in the first wave against the Yuuzhan Vong. "Valin died because of me."

Cherrz sat up straighter, resting a clawed hand on the younger Jedi's shoulder. "You cannot be blamed for that. It was Nefarion and his fleet that killed Valin, not you."

"Mentally, I know that, but in my heart I feel responsible." Ben snorted. "We were never the best of friends, Valin and I, but I did admire him. He had a strength of character that was admirable even for a Jedi. Our fathers had hoped we would be friends, but I think in some ways we were too much alike. Too stubborn, too obstinate. Just like siblings."

"The Jedi are your family," Cherrz said, simultaneously reassuring himself and Ben.

Ben studied his hands, rolling them over as if seeing them for the first time. "They are the only family I have left." Ben forced his gaze back to Cherrz. "The Falcon is packed and ready. Analsa has been given a release under Anakin's protection. Keorra and I will follow them to Coruscant. The question is, Dorsca Cherrz, in which direction will you be headed?"

"The Jedi are my family, too," Cherrz said on a puff of frustration.

Steel was in Ben's eyes as he leaned forward to grasp both of Cherrz's shoulders. "Sometimes it is necessary to risk your family for the betterment of the galaxy."

A tingling sensation ran up Cherrz's spine at the power held in those words, uttered by a boy who had not even reached his majority but understood the nature of life and death so much more profoundly than Cherrz did. He remembered that Anakin had called his cousin the 'Chosen One'. A Jedi so powerful in the Force that he held the Force in balance.

"You think I should go to my people?" Cherrz asked.

Ben nodded. "I think that is what the Force is whispering, but what I think is irrelevant. You have to feel it yourself, Dorsca, or it has little meaning to you."

"The Force is ambiguous to me," Cherrz admitted. "The harder I try, the more difficult it becomes for me to feel it."

A nostalgic smile played on the young seer's boyish features. "Then stop trying." At Cherrz's confused look, Ben continued. "If you only attempt, you've already given in to failure. My father's Master often told him, to 'do or do not, there is no try'. If you believe it will happen, it will. You must not only try for the Force, but believe that it will be there to greet you."

Tentatively, Cherrz fluttered his eyes closed after an encouraging nod forward from Ben. As Anakin and Ben had taught him, Cherrz cleared his mind of everything, envisioned the bright light of the Force that he had felt burgeoning inside of himself that day Ben and Anakin had healed him of the wounds he had sustained on Corellia. The warmth had forever been with him, a part of Anakin Solo and Ben Skywalker that could never be erased.

Just as he found that moment of emptiness, the moment of complete humility, the moment of teachability, the Force flooded into Cherrz. He almost gasped at its incredible warmth, almost shivered in the possibility of ice darkness. He veered away from that part of the Force, the part that Ben was afraid would take him one day, and followed his path along the future.

When he finished, he opened his eyes with a shudder, finding a smiling Ben Skywalker on the other side. "You stopped trying," Ben told him.

"Your father taught you that," Cherrz gasped, seeing again the wonder the Force could bring.

Ben nodded, and for the first time Cherrz saw that the memory did not pain him as much as it had before. "It is one of the many things my father taught me. Did you find what the Force would have of you, my brother?"

"I will inform Anakin and Analsa that I will be heading for Linnal," Dorsca assured him, knowing that Ben had seen the same destiny as he had.

"Analsa," Ben murmured the name, a frown marring his smooth features. "He loves her, doesn't he?"

Cherrz studied the young Jedi, wondering what it was about the girl that Ben found distasteful. "I believe he does." Cherrz furrowed his sloped forehead. "You disapprove."

Ben stood up and adjusted his tunic, running a nervous hand through his longish hair. "Analsa Vinn is not all she pretends to be. I'm not quite sure what she truly is, but I fear what will happen to Anakin once he discovers the truth."

"You have seen something, haven't you?" Cherrz accused.

Ben's mouth hardened in contemplation. "Nothing concrete, just glimmers. Specters of the future."

"You're afraid," Cherrz spoke without thinking, but spoke with feeling.

"We are at the edge of the crucible, Dorsca. The events ahead of us will define the balance of the Force. It is time for the Chosen to make their choice."

_Why do I feel suddenly afraid?_

Ben offered him a hand up, and Cherrz took it, Ben grasping his shoulder once again. "I wish you did not have to face what is coming alone, Cherrz, but neither me nor Anakin could help you in this."

"You are the enemy, they would only come to trust one of their own," Cherrz recited what they both knew.

"It will be difficult; the forces of darkness do not only come in the form of Force-users. They will promise you much to join them, and you will be an enemy I would not want to face if you did so." Ben smiled at him through watery eyes. "But I have faith in you."

"As I have in you," Cherrz said, reaching out to grip his new brother in a return grasp.

"I hate to say it, but we have yet to come up with a plan as to getting into the Temple," Analsa Vinn said aboard the Falcon, after Keorra and Skywalker had docked their X-wings and had tethered over through an airlock tunnel.

They were seated around the gaming table as they plotted a way to retake the Temple. It was a tentative plan at best, considering they had only the information of Ben's scant visions to go on. Basically, Keorra had heard a lot of 'the Force will guide us.'

"I have a way in," Skywalker assured her, and gave her a cocky wink.

Vinn's dark eyebrows cocked questioningly at Skywalker, and Keorra caught a glimpse into her eyes. Her Upoi Soulreader abilities kicked in almost on instinct, and she caught a maelstrom of confusion before Analsa's eyes closed and the depths of them were blocked off from Keorra. The Soulreader stiffened. She had never met someone who was so confused in their heart, and did not eventually lose themselves. Even Ben had more strength of purpose in his trial than the strange Jedi woman.

Solo interjected into the conversation. "Perhaps you could explain, Ben?"

"It's a little secret I've carried since Dad and Mom first decided that it was time to rebuild fully what had been lost," Skywalker elucidated. "When the Yuuzhan Vong terraformed Coruscant, they did not stay long enough to finish the jobs. Coruscant became honeycombed with tunnels, and when we came to Coruscant I used to explore them." Skywalker gave an embarrassed look. "Much to my parents' chagrin."

"It runs in the family," Solo replied, sharing a smile with his cousin.

"Anyway. Once we started working on the Temple, father and I decided to build over the old Temple spot, where most of the tunnels had been formed from the Yuuzhan Vong terraforming. It was meant as an escape route in case we ever needed it, but now it will get us into the one place we probably shouldn't want to be."

Keorra eyed Ben. "The old stand-by that your enemy will never expect how stupid you really are."

"I sense you object, Keorra," Skywalker said dryly, and the tension suddenly between them was palpable. Just when she thought the man was finally coming to his senses he went and did something that knocked her opinion of him down a notch.

"Do you have to rush into every situation blindly, Skywalker?" she asked heatedly.

His eyes snapped with fire. "And what would you have me do, Keorra Cereaslean? We have little time. We know that the Devotee Yuuzhan Vong have infiltrated the Temple, and that more and more of the Separatists are leaving the Republic to join their brothers in the fight. So when am I supposed to have the time to consider exactly what it is that Nefarion is attempting with this plot?"

"I would have thought that obvious," she sneered.

Ben glared at her. "Enlighten me."

"Nefarion has placed the bait, and you come like a ravenous nek battle dog," Keorra growled.

Ben pushed away from the table, knocking his chair to the ground. "Do you think I don't know that? Do you think I don't know that he is waiting for me? But my responsibility is to the Order and to my family." His smooth features hardened into determination. "I will no longer run from him."

"Nor will you confront him," Anakin countered, the weight of authority in his voice.

Skywalker shook his head. "How can I not confront him? He will search me out until I do. I will be hunted every day of my life if I turn and hide. I must choose the place of battle."

Keorra caught Vinn watching Skywalker closely. The older girl seemed pleased by his words, whereas Solo looked as though he wanted to knock sense into his cousin. "Your training should not be held off by Nefarion's wishes," Solo said, leaning his head forward so that his fingers ran through his dark, close-cropped hair. "He bested you last time, Ben. Admit it. If you are to stop him, you must continue your training."

"So you plan on keeping me from the battle?" Skywalker questioned.

Solo's head came up, and as his ice-chipped eyes met the aqua color of his cousin's, surprisingly a smile flittered on Solo's manly face. "I think we've been through this before. We both know we can't keep the other one from doing his duty. But Ben, don't give Nefarion what he wants. Don't give him his chance at you."

Skywalker pulled at the inner flesh of his cheek with his teeth, thinking. "I have to admit I do not want to face him."

"He killed your father - that is only natural," Keorra assured him, seeing that by this admission he felt as though he were admitting to some terrible weakness.

"No, that's not it. I'm afraid of what I will do when I see him. There is still so much... anger that he is gone. I haven't worked through it all." Skywalker searched Solo's eyes. "I need you to be my Master, Anakin. I need you to tell me what to do."

Keorra shot an encouraging glance at Anakin, and mentally urged him to take up the offer Skywalker was unconsciously giving. Skywalker was finally asking for the help he needed. Keorra knew that Solo would question his ability to provide, but knew, as Luke Skywalker had, that balance would be brought through these two.

Solo stood up to join his cousin. "Then let me be your Master, Ben."

"I'm no longer running," Skywalker said, splaying his arms in a welcoming gesture.

Relief glimmered in Solo's ice-chipped eyes. "Then if you will excuse us, ladies, my apprentice and I have some training to do."

Solo threw an arm around Skywalker's slighter frame and led him out of the gaming room. That left Keorra sitting across from Analsa Vinn. The Upoi Soulreader had to admit that she had not liked the girl on sight, and Ben had told her that there was more than what lay on the surface. Now, the other girl looked at her as though she was looking down at a gnat, although Keorra knew that they were of the same height.

"So, you're Ben's girl?" Vinn said dryly over the makeshift conference table.

"Friend," Keorra corrected, not willing to rise to the bait. "We are friends."

"And that's all you want to be?" Vinn asked, cocking a cultured eyebrow.

Keorra shrugged, putting on a cloak of nonchalance to mask her true feelings. "That's all Skywalker will accept at the moment." Until he faced his fears of turning Kalla, until his trial was through, he would not accept her love for him. She had looked into his soul, had seen the purity in it, despite his fears, and she could not help but feel the way she did. As much as she hated to admit it, her parents had been right when they had taught her that some things were meant to be.

It slightly frightened her that she could give so much of herself to one that was pure now, but could be tainted by the power he had inherited. She was bound to the sheathed sword of destruction, and she did not know what would happen if he ever let loose the power he held.

For a moment, Vinn lost all the trumped-up arrogance and nodded. "I know how you feel."

"I believe you do." Keorra had observed the furtive glances that Solo and Vinn had been surreptitiously exchanging, trying not to let the other on to the fact. It was the first time that Keorra could actually feel connected to the other girl, that Analsa Vinn was not so much a confused bundle of nerves, but a real person. Her love for Anakin Solo made her real.

The arrogance returned; haughtily, Vinn tipped her chin back. "You know nothing of me. It is dangerous to assume you do." Vinn slammed her palms on the table and pushed herself away from it, escaping from Keorra's searching glare.

Keorra grabbed Analsa's arm, forcing the older girl to look at her. "Skywalker is important to me," she stated harshly. "And Solo is important to him. If you do anything to jeopardize them, I swear I will hunt you down."

The older girl stiffened, and shrugged off Keorra's arm. "What makes you think I would want to hurt them?"

Those dark brown eyes held the depths of confusion in them, a maelstrom of indecision. Keorra had a hard time delving into those swirling pools, not anything like when Ben had begged her to read his soul. He had been open, willing to let her into the innermost part of his heart. Even so, Keorra was the most talented Upoi Soulreader of her time, she should be able to move through the clouds of reality into the soul of this woman, and find her true heart.

It took a series of fruitless attempts for Keorra to realize why she could not read the other woman. Analsa was not sure of her own heart - was pulled in two directions, influenced by two sides. Her soul was torn.

"You will most likely end up hurting yourself," Keorra muttered.

Analsa snorted. "And I'm allowed to do that without tempting your wrath?"

"Do you think that you have no effect on Solo? He loves you," Keorra told the obstinate woman.

"Did he tell you this?" Analsa asked the question with an edge of emotion.

Keorra smiled with the falseness of saccharine. "He doesn't need to tell me. I can see it in his eyes."

Like donning a favorite shipsuit, Analsa's features arranged themselves into that hard expression of impertinence. Funny how we wear our emotions to cover those we don't want seen, Keorra thought as she observed this girl whom she did not trust because she could not read.

"Perhaps you would like to read my soul, Upoi?" Vinn surprised Keorra, as her eyelids fluttered over her dark eyes. "Since you have taken the liberty with everyone else." And with that, Analsa Vinn spun on her heel and retired into the cabin that Keorra was to share with her.

_I'm going to kill Karrde for this._


End file.
